A 



\ 




C 



X 



Village Life in China 



A STUDY IN SOCIOLOGY 



BY/ 

ARTHUR H. SMITH, D. D. 

AUTHOR OF 

** Chinese Characteristics" 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




^ 



New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

Publishers of Evangelical Literature 



Copyrights. 




47709 

Copyright, 1899 

by 

FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



SECOND COPY, 






Foreword 

'TpHESE chapters are written from the standpoint of one 
■■' who, by an extended experience in China, has come to feel 
a profound respect for the numerous admirable qualities of the 
Chinese, and to entertain for many of them a high personal es- 
teem. An unexampled past lies behind this great race, and be- 
fore it there may lie a wonderful future. Ere that can be real- 
ized, however, there are many disabilities which must be re- 
moved. The longer one is acquainted with China, the more 
deeply is this necessity felt. Commerce, diplomacy, extension 
of political relations, and the growing contact with Occidental 
civilization have, all combined, proved totally inadequate to ac- 
complish any such reformation as China needs. 

The Chinese village is the empire in small, and when that 
has been surveyed, we shall be in a better condition to suggest 
a remedy for whatever needs amendment. It cannot be too 
often reiterated that the variety in unity in China is such, that 
affirmations should always be qualified with the implied limita- 
tion that they are true somewhere, although few of them may 
hold good everywhere. On the other hand, the unity in 
variety is such that a really typical Chinese fact, although of 
restricted occurrence, may not on that account be the less val- 
uable. 

China was never so much in the world's thought as to-day, 
nor is there any apparent likelihood that the position of this 
empire will be less conspicuous at the opening of the twentieth 
century. Whatever helps to a better understanding of the 
Chinese people, is an aid to a comprehension of the Chinese 
problem. To that end this volume is intended as a humble 
contribution. 



/^3 



Acknowledgment. 



^T^HE author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to 
■'^ the Rev. Harlan P. Beach for his invaluable criticisms 
and the kindly services rendered in the proof-reading and 
piloting of this nev/ voyager through the press. 

For the use of original photographs from which engrav- 
ings have been made, and are here published for the first 
time, the author and the publishers desire to acknowledge 
their obligations to Mr. Robert E. Speer, Mr. William Henry- 
Grant, Albert Peck, M.D., Rev. W. C. Longden, and Miss 
|. G. Evans. 



Contents 



PART I.— THE VILLAGE, ITS INSTITUTIONS, 
USAGES, AND PUBLIC CHARACTERS 

CHAPTER PAGB 

Glossary ii 

I. The Chinese Village 15 

II. Construction of Villages 20 

III. Village Nomenclature 30 

IV. Country Roads . * 35-^ 

V. The Village Ferry 39 

VI. Village Wells 44' 

VII. The Village Shop 49^ 

VIII. The Village Theatre 54 

IX. Village Schools and Travelling Scholars .... 70"^ 
X. Chinese Higher Education — The Village High 
School — Examinations — Recent Educational 

Edicts 11 1' 

XL Village Temples and Religious Societies 136 

XII. Cooperation in Religious Observances 141 

XIII. Cooperation in Markets and Fairs 146' 

XIV. Cooperative Loan Societies 152- 

XV. Societies for Watching the Crops 161-^ 

XVI. Village and City Rain-making 169 

XVII. The Village Hunt 174 

XVIII. Village Weddings and Funerals 179' 

XIX. New Year in Chinese Villages 196 

XX. The Village Bully 211 

XXI. Village Headmen 226 



PART II.— VILLAGE FAMILY LIFE 

XXII. Village Boys and Men 237 

XXIII. Chinese Country Girls and Women 258 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PACK 

XXIV. Monotony and Vacuity of Village Life 312 

XXV. Unstable Equilibrium OF The Chinese Family . . . 317 
XXVI. Instability from Family Disunity 324 



PART IIL—REGENERATION OF THE CHINESE 
VILLAGE 

XXVII. What CAN Christianity Do FOR China ? 341 

Index 353 



List of Illustrations 



Chinese Villagers at Home Frontispiece. 

h . . . Facing page 1 6 

} 

[ 



Southern Village Scene 

A Detail — the Village Well 



Sawyers Preparing Lumber 

Itinerant Blacksmiths Employed by Villagers 



The Village Cobbler 
Village Broom-Maker 



Waiting for the Boat") 
Crossing the Ferry J 

Strings of Chinese Cash 
Preparing the Strings 

Threshing ) 

An Afternoon Siesta f 



The World's Oldest Sacred Mountain, T'ai Shan 
Scenery Along the River Lin 



Going to Market ) 

Chinese Market Scene ) 

Crop- Watcher's Lodge \ 
Reaping Millet S 



24 



35 



40 



51 



77 



141 



148 



162 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



A Bridal Pair 

Temporary Funeral Pavilion 



Facing page \ 



Entrance to a Yamen \ ,. «. 218 

Chinese Court of Justice 



Chinese Punch and Judy \ 
The Village Story-Teller ) 

Women Preparing Food ) 
On the Way to the Feast ) 



One of China's Parasites— a Beggar 

One of her Sources of Strength — a Carpenter 

Little Old People \ 

Going to a Christian School j • • • * 



\" 



244 



262 



310 



342 



10 



Glossary- 



Bo Y, a term used by foreigners in China to denote the head-servant, ir- 
respective of his age. 

Cash, Chinese copper coin with a square hole for stringing. The value 
"* of a single cash may be taken as one-thousandth of a Mexican dol- 
lar. The cash vary greatly in size. A " string " theoretically con- 
sists of a thousand cash, but in many regions has but five hundred. 
The latter variety is at present equal to one-third of a gold dollar. 

Catty, a Chinese pound, equal by treaty to one and one-third pounds 
avoirdupois. 

Chin-shih, •' Entered Scholar." The third literary degree ; Doctor in 
Literature. 

Chou, a Sub prefecture, sometimes with Districts under it, and often 
without them. 

ChO-jen, " Selected man." The second full literary degree ; a Master of 
Arts. 

Compound, an enclosure or yard, usually containing a number of build- 
ings belonging to a single family or establishment. 

Feng-shui, literally "wind and water," A complicated system of 
geomantic superstition, by which the good luck of sites and buildings 
is determined. 

Fu, a Prefecture, governed by a Prefect, with several Districts under it. 

Han-lin, " Forest of Pencils." The last literary degree, entitling to 
office. 

HsiEN, a District or Country, governed by the District Magistrate. 

Hsiu-TS'AI, " Flourishing Talent." The lowest of the several literary de- 
grees; a Bachelor of Arts. 

K'ANG, a raised platform of adobe or of bricks, used as a bed and heated 
by means of flues. 

K*o-T'ou or Kotow, the act of prostration and striking the head on the 
ground in homage or worship. 

Li, a Chinese measure of length, somewhat more than three of which 
equal an English mile. 

Squeeze, a forced contribution exacted by those through whose hands the 
money of others passes. 

TiEL, a weight of money equivalent to a sixteenth of a Chinese pound ; an 

ounce. 
Tao-t«ai, an officer of the third rank who is intendant of a circuit. 

Ya-aien, the office and residence of a Chinese official. 



PART I 

The Village, Its Institutions, Usages and Public 
Characters 



THE CHINESE VILLAGE 

'T^HERE are in India alone over half a million villages. 
-■' In all Asia, not improbably, there may be four times 
that number. By far the larger part of the most numerous 
people on the globe live in villages. The traveller in the 
Chinese Empire may start from some seaport, as Tientsin, and 
journey for several months together in the same general direc- 
tion, before reaching its frontiers on the other side. In the 
course of such a tour, he will be impressed as only one who has 
ocular evidence can be impressed with the inconceivably great 
number of Chinese altogether outside of the great centres of 
urban population. Contrary to the current notions of West- 
erners, the number of great cities is not, relatively to the whole 
population, anything like so large in China as in Western lands. 
Many of the district cities, capitals of divisions analogous to 
what we call counties, are merely large villages with a wall and 
with government bureaus called yamens. It is known that in 
India three-fourths of the population are rural. In China 
there is perhaps no reason for thinking the proportion to be 
less. 

On such a journey as we have supposed, the traveller unac- 
quainted with the Chinese, finds himself perpetually inquiring 
of himself : What are these incomputable millions of human 
beings thinking about ? What is the quality of the life which 
they live ? What is its content and its scope ? 

Questions like these cannot be answered intelligently without 
much explanation. The conditions and environment of 
Chinese life are so totally unlike those to which we are accus- 
es 



i6 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

tomed, that it is unsafe to take anything for granted. Amid 
certain fundamental unities the life of the Chinese is full of be- 
wildering and inexplicable variety. No matter how long one 
may have lived in China, there is always just as much as ever 
that he never before heard of, but which every one is supposed 
to have known by intuition. The oldest resident is a student 
like the rest. 

This state of things is the inevitable result of the antiquity of 
Chinese civilization, as well as of the enormous scale upon 
which it has operated to produce its effects. It is a sagacious 
remark of Mr. A. R. Colquhoun^ that *' the product resulting 
from duration multiplied by numbers must be immense, and if 
to this we add a third factor, isolation, we have no right to be 
surprised either at the complex character of Chinese civilization, 
or at its peculiarly conservative form." For this reason a con- 
nected and orderly account of the phenomena of Chinese life 
we believe to be a hopeless impossibility. It would require the 
combined information of all the residents of China to make it 
complete, to coordinate it would be the work of several life- 
times, and the resultant volumes would fill the Bodleian library. 
The only practicable way to extend our knowledge of so oceanic 
a subject, is to examine in more or less detail such phenomena 
as happen to have come within our restricted horizon. No 
two persons will have the same horizon, and no horizon will 
belt a sphere. / 

A good way to see what is happening in a building would be 
to take its roof off, could that be done without disturbing its 
inmates. If we wish to comprehend the Chinese, we must take 

^ A consideration of the important crisis through which the Chinese 
Empire is passing at the close of the century, does not fall within the 
scope of a work like the present. All who are interested in that subject 
should not omit to read attentively Mr. Colquhoun's " China in Trans- 
formation," London and New York, 1898, embodying the matured con- 
victions of an accomplished traveller, and an experienced Oriental admin- 
istrator, with an exceptional first-hand acquaintance with China. 




Southern Village Scene. 




A Detail — The Village Well. 



THE CHINESE VILLAGE 17 

the roof from their homes, in order to learn what is going on 
within. This no foreigner can do. But he can imitate the 
Chinese who apply a wet finger to a paper window, so that 
when the digit is withdrawn there remains a tiny hole, through 
which an observant eye may see at least something. The 
heterogeneous, somewhat disconnected, very unequally elab- 
orated chapters which comprise this book, have this in com- 
mon, that they are all studies of the phenomena seen at a peep- 
hole into the actual life of the Chinese people. Any one who 
knows enough about the subject to be entitled to have an 
opinion, cannot help perceiving how imperfect and inadequate 
they are. Yet they represent, nevertheless, realities which have 
a human interest of their own. 

The traveller in China, constantly surrounded by countless 
towns and hamlets, naturally thirsts to know in a general way 
the population of the region which he is traversing. Should 
he venture, however, to ask any one the number of people in a 
city, or the district which it governs, he would get no other in- 
formation than that there are " not a few," or '* who knows ? " 
Almost any intelligent person could tell approximately how 
many villages there are in his own county, but as some of them 
are large and some small, and as Chinese like other Orientals 
care absolutely nothing for statistics and have the crudest no- 
tion of what we mean by an average, one is none the wiser for 
their information. 

It appears to be well settled that no real dependence can be 
placed upon the Chinese official returns, yet that they are the 
only basis upon which rational estimates can be based, and 
therefore have a certain value. So far as we are aware, efforts 
to come at the real population per square mile, have generally 
proceeded from such extensive units as provinces, or at least 
prefectures, the foundation and superstructure being alike a 
mere pagoda of guesses. 

Some years ago an effort was made in a certain district to 
make a more exact computation of the population of a very 



I8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

limited area, as a sort of unit of measure. For this purpose a 
circle was taken, the radius of which was twenty //, the foreign 
residence being at the centre. A list was drawn up of every 
village having received famine relief in the year 1878, so that 
it was not difficult to make a proximate guess at the average 
number of families. The villages were 150 in number, and 
the average size was taken as eighty families, which, reckoning 
five persons to the family, gave a total of 60,000 persons. Al- 
lowing six miles to be the equivalent of twenty //, the popula- 
tion of the square mile would be 531, about the same as the 
average of the kingdom of Belgium (the most densely popu- 
lated country in Europe), which had in 1890 an average of only 
534 to the square mile. 

At a distance of a few miles beyond this circle, there is a 
tract called the "Thirteen Villages," because that is the num- 
ber within a distance of five // / This shows that the partic- 
ular region in which this estimate was made, happens to be an 
unfavourable one for the purpose, as a considerable part of it 
is waste, owing to an old bed of the Yellow River which has 
devastated a broad band of land, on which are no villages. 
There is also a water-course leading from the Grand Canal to 
the sea, and a long depression much below the general average, 
thinly occupied by villages, because it is liable to serious inun- 
dation. 

For these reasons it seemed desirable to make a new count 
in a better spot, and for this purpose a district was chosen, 
situated about ninety // east of the sub-prefecture of Lin 
Ch'ing, to which it belongs. The area taken was only half 
the size of the former, and instead of merely estimating the 
average population of the villages, the actual number of fami- 
lies in each was taken, so far as this number is known to the 
natives. The man who prepared the village map of the area 
is a native of the central village, and a person of excellent 
sense. He put the population in every case somewhat below 
the popular estimate so as to be certainly within bounds. The 



THE CHINESE VILLAGE 19 

number of persons to a "family" was still taken at five, 
though, as he pointed out, this is a totally inadequate allow- 
ance. Many *' families " live and have all things in common, 
and are therefore counted as one, although as in the case of 
this particular individual, the ''family" may consist of some 
twenty persons. To the traveller in this region, the villages 
appear to be both large and thickly clustered, and the enumer- 
ation shows this to be the case. Within a radius of ten // 
(three miles) there are sixty-four villages, the smallest having 
thirty families and the largest more than 1,000, while the 
average is 188 famihes. The total number of families is 12,- 
040, and the total number of persons at five to the family, is 
60,200, or more than double the estimate for the region with 
twice the diameter. This gives a population of 2,129 to the 
square mile. 

So far as appearances go, there are thousands of square miles 
in southern and central Chih-li, western and southwestern 
Shan-tung, and northern Ho-nan, where the villages are as 
thick as in this one tract, the contents of which we are thus 
able proximately to compute. But for the plain of North 
China as a whole, it is probable that it would be found more 
reasonable to estimate 300 persons to the square mile for the 
more sparsely settled districts, and from 1,000 to 1,500 for 
the more thickly settled regions. In any case a vivid impres- 
sion is thus gained of the enormous number of human beings 
crowded into these fertile and historic plains, and also of the 
almost insuperable difficulties in the way of an exact knowl- 
edge of the facts of the true "census." 



II 

CONSTRUCTION OF VILLAGES 

TT is nearly 500 years since the great raid of the nephew of 
-*■ Hung Wu, founder of the Ming Dynasty, from the south- 
em capital of China, to what is now known as Peking, then 
called the state of Yen. The celebrated raider is popularly 
believed to have destroyed the lives of all those whom he met, 
and to have reduced to an uninhabited desert the whole region 
from the Yang-tzu River to Peking. This is described as <* Yen 
Wang's sweeping the North." After this ambitious youth had 
dispossessed his nephew, who was the rightful heir to the 
throne, he took the title of Yung Lo, which became a famous 
name in Chinese history. To repair the ravages which he had 
made, compulsory emigration was established from southern 
Shan-hsi and from eastern Shan-tung. Tradition reports that 
vast masses of people were collected in the city of Hung-tung 
Hsien in southern Shan-hsi, and thence distributed over the 
uncultivated wastes made by war. Certain it is that through- 
out great regions of the plain of northern China, the inhabi- 
tants have no other knowledge of their origin than that they 
came from that city. 

It is a curious phenomenon that so practical a people as the 
Chinese, and one having so instinctive a sense of the points of 
the compass that they speak of a pain in ''the east side" of 
the stomach, are indifferent to regularity of form in their 
towns. Every Chinese city seems to lie four square, but per- 
haps it is not too much to say that no Chinese city really does 
so lie. On the contrary a city wall is always found to have 
certain deliberate curves and irregularities which are designed 
for geomantic purposes. In other words they bring good luck, 

20 



CONSTRUCTION OF VILLAGES 21 

or they keep off bad luck, and are representations of the mys- 
terious science oi feng-shui or geomancy. It is for this reason 
that city gates must either not be opposite one another, or if 
they are so, some obstruction must intervene to prevent evil 
spirits from making a clean sweep of ever)^hing. 

It is customary in Western lands to speak of "laying out" 
a city or a town. As applied to a Chinese village, such an ex- 
pression would be most inappropriate, for it would imply that 
there has been some trace of design in the arrangement of the 
parts, whereas the reverse is the truth. A Chinese village, like 
Topsy, "just growed," how, or why, no one knows or cares. 
At some remote and generally unascertainable time in the dim 
past some families arrived from somewhere else, camped down, 
made themselves a "local habitation," (their name they prob- 
ably brought with them), and that was the village. It has a 
street, and perhaps a network of them, but no two are parallel, 
except by accident, and no one of them is straight. The 
street is the path which has been found by long experience to 
be a necessary factor in promoting communication between the 
parts of the village and the outside world. It is not only liable 
to take sudden and inexplicable turns, but it varies in width at 
different points. Sometimes in a village a quarter of a mile 
long, there may not be a single crossroad enabling a vehicle to 
get from the front street to the back one, simply because the 
town grew up in that way, and no one either could or would 
remedy it, even if any one desired it otherwise. At right 
angles to the main street or streets, run narrow alleys, upon 
which open the yards or courts in which the houses are situ- 
ated. Even the buildings which happen to stand contiguous to 
the main street offer nothing to the gaze but an expanse of dead 
wall. If any doorway opens on the highway, it is protected 
from the evil influences which might else result, by a screen 
wall, preventing any observation of what goes on within. A 
village is thus a city in miniature, having all the evils of over- 
crowding, though it may be situated in the midst of a wide 



22 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

and comparatively uninhabited plain. Whether land is dear or 
cheap, a village always has the same crowded appearance, and 
there is in either case the same indifference to the requirements 
of future growth. 

The mountains furnish an abundance of stone, from which 
dwellings situated in such districts are built — dark, damp, and 
unwholesome at all seasons of the year, but especially so in the 
time of heavy rains. Even more unpleasant are the cave 
dwellings found in the loamy soil of loess regions, lighted only 
from the front, and quite free from any form of ventilation, a 
luxury for which no provision is made in the construction of a 
Chinese dwelling. 

By far the most common material of which the Chinese build 
their houses is that which happens to be nearest at hand. 
Bricks are everywhere made in great quantities, almost always 
of the same colour as the clothes of the people, a bluish 
gray. This tint is secured by sealing up the brick-kiln per- 
fectly tight, when the burning of the bricks is finished, and 
pouring upon the concave top several hundred buckets of 
water, which, filtering through the soil of which the top is com- 
posed, is instantly converted into steam when it reaches the 
bricks, and alters their hue. The scarcity of fuel, and an un- 
willingness to employ it where it seems like a waste leads to the 
almost universal practice of burning the bricks too little to 
make them valuable as a building material. Instead of becom- 
ing hard like stones as do foreign bricks, and coated with a 
thick glazing, a large percentage of Chinese bricks break 
merely by being handled, and when examined, they are found 
to be like well-made bread, full of air-holes. Each of these 
openings becomes a tube by which the bibulous bricks suck up 
moisture from below, to the great detriment of the building of 
which they generally form merely the foundations, or perhaps 
the facings. 

The vast majority of country dwellings are made simply of 
the soil, moulded into adobe bricks, dried till they cease to 



CONSTRUCTION OF VILMGES 23 

shrink. The largest of these bricks are two or three inches 
thick, and a foot wide, and perhaps twenty inches in length, 
weighing even when thoroughly dried more than forty pounds. 
The cost of making those which are only dried in a mould is 
not more than a cash a piece ; those which are stamped while 
in the mould with a heavy stone rammer, are worth three or 
four times as much. If experts are employed to do this work, 
the outlay is greater as the owner of the earth not only pro- 
vides a man to carry the necessary water, but he must furnish 
tea and tobacco for the workmen. 

The foundations of adobe houses, like those of all others, 
must be of brick, and at the height of a foot or two above the 
ground will have a layer of reeds or some other substance, de- 
signed to prevent the dampness from rising into the walls, which 
crumble in such a case like candy houses in a rain. There is 
so much soda in the soil of all parts of the Great Plain of 
northern China, that unless extreme care is taken the best built 
structures will, in a very few years, show signs of decay. 

The roof is meant to be supported by posts, no matter of 
what material the house is built, and this material is regarded 
as only the filling between them, but in the cheaper houses, the 
posts are often omitted to save expense. As a result, in a 
rainy year thousands of houses are literally soaked down when- 
ever the moisture has sufficiently weakened the foundations. 
In this way many persons are killed and many more injured. 
In some districts one sees roofs made with the frame resembling 
that of a foreign house, but the ordinary form is with king and 
queen posts. In either case the timbers running lengthwise of 
the building support small purlines upon which rest thin bricks, 
or more frequently reeds, mats, or sorghum stalks, over which 
is spread the earth which forms the greater part of all roofs. 
Their enormous weight when well soaked make them highly 
dangerous after the timbers have become old and rotten. 
Where the roofs are flat, they serve as depositories for the 
crops, and for fuel. 



24 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

If the village is situated in a low spot, the precaution is 
taken to throw up a mound of earth on which to build. But 
whatever the nature of the country, the removal of so much 
earth leaves a series of gigantic pits around every village, 
which catch the drainage of the surrounding region and the 
possession of which is disputed by ducks, geese, pigs and in 
summer by small children clad only in the skin garments fur- 
nished by nature. 

The abundant moisture is an inducement to the growth of 
luxuriant groves of trees, which, seen at a distance, produce a 
charming effect. But on a nearer approach it is seen that the 
fine old trees are employed exclusively in shading the mud- 
holes, while the houses of the village are exposed to the fiercest 
rays of the summer sun. Trees are indeed to be met v/ith in 
the village street, but they are not designed to shade a court- 
yard, which is almost invariably utterly destitute of trees of 
any sort. Even grapevines which would seem a natural and 
beautiful relief from the hideous bareness of the prevalent earth 
colour, are, in some regions at least, wholly tabooed. And 
why? Because, forsooth, the branches of the grape point 
down, while those of other trees point up, hence it would be 
"unlucky" to have grapevines, though not at all ''unlucky" 
to roast all through the broiling summer for the lack of their 
grateful shade. 

A man whose grandfather had been rich, and who was dis- 
tinguished from his neighbours by owning a two-story dwelling, 
informed the writer that he could remember that his grand- 
mother, who lived in the rear court, was constantly fretting at 
the lofty buildings in front, and at the magnificent elms which 
shaded the compound and left no place to dry clothes ! In 
course of time the family was reduced to poverty, the two-story 
building was demolished, and the trees felled, so that the pres- 
ent generation, like other families, swelters in a narrow court- 
yard, with an unlimited opportunity (very little used) to dry 
their clothes. Luxuries which are denied to dwelling-houses, 




Sawyers Preparing Lumber. 




Itinerant Blacksmiths Employed by Villagers. 



CONSTRUCTION Of yiLLACES 25 

are cheerfully accorded to the gods, who have no clothes to 
dry, and a very small temple may have in front of it a grove of 
very old trees. 

The architecture of the Chinese has been compendiously and 
perhaps not inaccurately described as consisting essentially of 
two sticks placed upright, with a third laid across them at the 
top. The shape of some Chinese roofs, however they may 
vary among themselves, suggests the tent as the prime model ; 
though, as Dr. Williams and others have remarked, there is no 
proof of any connection between the Chinese roof and the tent. 
Owing to the national reluctance to erect lofty buildings, almost 
all Chinese .cities present an appearance of monotonous uni- 
formity, greatly in contrast with the views of large cities to be 
had in other lands. 

If Chinese cities are thus uninviting in their aspect, the 
traveller must not expect to find anything in the country village 
to gratify his aesthetic sense. There is no such word as ** aes- 
thetic " in Chinese, and, if there were, it is not one in which 
villagers would take any interest. The houses are generally 
built on the north end of the space reserved as a courtyard, so 
as to face the south, and if additional structures are needed 
they are placed at right angles to the main one, facing east and 
west. If the premises are large, the front wall of the yard is 
formed by another house, similar to the one in the rear, and 
like it having side buildings. However numerous or however 
wealthy the family, this is the normal type of its dwelling. In 
cities this type is greatly modified by the exigencies of the con- 
tracted space at disposal, but in the country it rules supreme. 

The numerative of Chinese houses is a word which denotes 
division, signifying not a room, but rather such a part of a 
dwelling as can conveniently be covered by timbers of one 
length. As these timbers are seldom very large or very long, 
one division of a house will not often exceed ten or twelve feet 
in length, by a little less in width from front to back. An or- 
dinary house will comprise three of these divisions, though 



26 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

there may be but one partition, forming one double and one 
single room. There is no ceiling, and the roof, which is usu- 
ally not lofty, is in full view. Most doors are made with two 
leaves, projections above and below, like pins, serving as the 
hinges. There is a movable doorsill, out of which a small hole 
is often cut to admit of entrance and exit for the dogs and cats. 
Such doors cannot be tightly closed, for the rude workmanship 
and the unequal shrinkage of the wood always render it easy to 
see through the many cracks. 

Almost all parts of the eighteen provinces are very hot in 
summer, but it is only in some regions that a back door will be 
found opening opposite the front one. The wooden grating, 
which does duty as a window, is built into the wall, for security 
against thieves, and is often covered, even in the heat of sum- 
mer, with oiled paper. Doors do not open directly from dwell- 
ing-houses to the street, and if there are any windows on the 
street side of the house, they are very small and very high. 

Just inside the door is built the adobe support for the cook- 
ing-boiler, the latter shaped like a saucer and made very thin 
in order to economize fuel to the utmost. In all districts where 
provision is to be made for heating the room, it is done by con- 
ducting the smoke from this primitive range through a com 
plicated set of flues, under the divan called a k'ang which 
serves as a bed, and which is merely an arrangement of adobe 
bricks. If the houses are thatched with straw the opening for 
smoke must be near the ground, as a precaution against fire. 

On the end of the k'ang are piled the bed-quilts of the 
household and whatever trunks or boxes they may be able to 
boast, for this is the only part of the dwelling which is not 
likely to be damp. As the fire is so near to the outer door 
where drafts are strong, as the flues are very likely to get out of 
order, and as there are no chimneys worthy of the name, it is 
inevitable that the smoke should be distributed throughout the 
building with the greatest impartiality, often forming a coating 
of creosote an inch or more in thickness. 



CONSTRUCTION OF VILLAGES 27 

Above the cooking-range is fastened the image of the 
kitchen-god, popularly supposed to be a deification of Chang 
Kung, a worthy who lived in the eighth century of our era, and 
was able to live in perfect peace, although nine generations 
simultaneously inhabited the same yard. Even his hundred 
dogs were so polite as to wait for another, if any one of them 
was late at a meal. 

The reigning emperor of the T'ang Dynasty sent for Chang 
Kung, to inquire the secret of such wonderful harmony, and 
calling for a pen, he is said to have written the character de- 
noting ** Forbearance" a great number of times. According 
to tradition the picture of this patriarch was placed in every 
dwelling as a stimulus to the imitation of his example, a pur- 
pose for which it unfortunately proves quite inert. 

That the dwellings of the Chinese are cold in winter, hot in 
summer, and smoky all the year round is inevitable. Even in 
the coldest weather there is no escape from the bitter cold, ex- 
cept as it may be got by curling upon the k'ang. For this rea- 
son Chinese women often speak of the k^ang as like an "own 
mother." A room in which there is none is considered almost 
uninhabitable. But from an Occidental point of view they are 
models of discomfort. The heat is but slowly diffused, and 
during a long night one may be alternately drenched with per- 
spiration, and then chilled to the bone as the heat diminishes. 
The adobe bricks of which the k^ang is composed crumble if an 
uneven pressure is made upon them, so that one often finds the 
k^angs in an inn full of pitfalls. They are always the lodging 
places of a multitude of tiny monsters to which the Chinese are 
too much accustomed to complain. Even when the adobe 
bricks are broken up in the spring to be pulverized as manure 
— on account of the creosote — the animal life lodged in the 
walls is apparently sufficient to restock the universe. 

It is not surprising that the title-deeds to land are in course 
of years destroyed or lost, for there is in a Chinese house no 
proper place in which they may be kept. The only closets are 



a8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

made by leaving out a few bricks from the wall. A small 
board, resting on two pegs often forms the only book-shelf to 
be found in the apartments even of men of letters. Doors are 
locked by passing the link of a chain over a staple in the door- 
frame above ; but Chinese padlocks can generally be picked 
with a wire, a chop-stick, or even with a dry weed, and afford 
no real protection. Thieves are always provided with an assort- 
ment of keys, and often get in by lifting the doors off the pins 
which serve as hinges. Nothing is easier than to dig through 
adobe walls. In some of the rich villages of Shan-hsi house- 
walls are built quite six feet thick to discourage such penetration. 

The floor of all common dwellings is merely the earth, not 
smoothed but beaten into fixed inequalities; this we are as- 
sured (in reply to a question why smoothness is not cultivated) 
is much the best way, as by this means every fluid spilled will 
run out of itself ! In the corners of the dwelling stand, lie, or 
hang, the numerous household articles for which there is no 
other place. Jars of grain, agricultural implenients, clumsy 
looms for weaving cotton, spinning wheels, baskets of all sizes 
and shapes, one or two benches, and possibly a chair, all seem 
to occupy such space as is to be had, while from the sooty roof 
depend all manner of articles, hung up so as to be out of the 
way — some of which when wanted must be hooked down with 
a pole. The maxim <*a place for everything, and everything 
in its place" is inappropriate to a Chinese dwelling, where 
there is very little place for anything. 

The small yard is in as great confusion as the house, and for 
the same reason. Dogs, cats, chickens and babies enjoy a 
very limited sphere of action, and generally take to the street, 
which is but an extension of the court. If the family owns 
animals, some place must be found for them in the yard, though 
when not in use they spend their time anchored by a very 
short rope, attached to pegs sunk deep in the ground, in front 
of the owner's dwelling. Pigs are kept in a kind of well, with 
a brick wall to prevent its caving in, and by climbing a very 



CONSTRUCTION OF VILL4GES 29 

steep flight of brick stairs they can ascend to a little kennel 
provided for them at the edge of their pits — in many regions the 
only two-story domiciles to be found ! 

The Chinese village is always a miniature city, not only by 
reason of its internal arrangements — or lack of it — but often 
also in the virtue of the fact that it is surrounded by a wall. 

Not many years ago several regiments stationed near the Yel- 
low River, in Shan-tung, mutinied, killed an officer and 
marched off to their homes. The intelligence of this event 
spread throughout the province, and each region feared to be 
visited by the soldiers who were sure to plunder and perhaps to 
kill. So great was the panic that cities hundreds of miles from 
the seat of the disturbance were packed with a multitude of 
farm-carts loaded with villagers who had left their homes and 
abandoned their crops at the beginning of the wheat harvest, 
trusting to find safety within city walls. The losses sustained 
in consequence were immense. 

Events like this may occur at any time, and the great T'ai 
P'ing Rebellion of half a century ago, together with its result- 
ant disorders, left an ineffaceable impression of the insecurity of 
an unwalled village. Although the walls are seldom more than 
fifteen or twenty feet in height, whenever a year of bad har- 
vests occurs, and bands of plunderers roam about, the use of 
even such defences is made obvious. Slight as is their value 
against an organized, well-directed attack, experience shows 
that they are often sufficient to accomplish the object intended, 
by diverting the stream of invaders to other villages where they 
meet with no resistance. The least rumour of an uprising in 
any quarter is often sufficient to stimulate the villagers to levy 
a tax upon the land in order to repair their earthen ramparts, 
in which, not without good reason, they place much more de- 
pendence than in the cautious and dilatory movements of the 
local authorities who are generally in no condition to cope with 
an organized and resolute force, especially with those rebels who 
have a real grievance. 



m 

VILLAGE NOMENCLATURE 

'T^HE Chinese is justly termed a poetical language. The 
■'' titles of emperors, the names of men, the signs of 
shops, all have some felicitous meaning. It is therefore some- 
what of a disappointment to discover that the names of Chinese 
villages, unlike those of cities, are not as a rule either poetical 
or significant. The drafts upon the language by the incessant 
multiplication of hamlets are tdo great to be successfully met. 
Nearly all Chinese surnames serve as the designation of vil- 
lages, as in other lands the names of families are attached to 
the settlements which they make. Sometimes two or more sur- 
names are linked together to denote the village, as Chang- 
Wang Chuang, the village of the Chang and the Wang fami- 
lies. It often happens that in the changes, wrought by time, 
of the families for whom the place was named not a single rep- 
resentative remains. In such cases the name may be retained 
or it may be altered, though all recollection of the circumstan- 
ces of the change may be lost. 

The most conspicuous object in a Chinese village is generally 
a temple, and this building often gives its name to the hamlet. 
Thus the wall surrounding a temple is covered with red plaster, 
and the village is dubbed Red Temple. In a few years the 
plaster falls off, but the name sticks. Temples are frequently 
associated with the families which were prominent in their con- 
struction, and the name of the village is very likely to be de- 
rived from this source, as Wang Chia Miao, the Temple of the 
Wang Family ; the Hua Chia Ssu, the monastery of the Hua 
Family. If there happen to be two temples of a similar ap- 
pearance, the village may get the title of Double Temple, and 

30 



VILLAGE NOMENCLATURE 31 

in general any peculiarity in edifices of this sort is likely to be 
stereotyped in the village name. 

The habit of using the names of families and temples to in- 
dicate the villages is a fertile source of confusion through the 
indefinite multiplication of the same name. There is no postal 
system in China compelling each post office to have a designa- 
tion which shall not be confounded with others in the same 
province. Hence the more common names are so exceedingly 
common that they lose all value as distinctive designations. 
"Chang, Wang, Li, and Chao," are the four surnames which 
the Chinese regard as the most prevalent, the first two of them 
far out-distancing all their competitors. The number of places 
in a given district bearing the same, or similar names, is past 
all ascertaining ; as, say eight or ten Wang Family villages, the 
Larger Wang Village, the Smaller Wang Village, the Front 
Wang Village, the Rear Wang Village, the Wang Village 
Under-the-bank, and so forth. Even with this complexity, dis- 
tinction would be a much easier matter if the same name were 
always used, but anything which has a Wang about it is like to 
be called simply Wang Village, and only on inquiry is it to be 
learned which of all these Wangs is the one intended. 

A similar ambiguity is introduced along the line of imperial 
highways, where the hamlets at which food is sold, and where 
accommodations are offered to travellers, are called *' shops," 
taking their distinctive title from the distance to the district 
city, — as Five Mile Shop, Ten Mile, Fifteen, Twenty, Thirty, 
and Forty Mile Shop. Each district city may have *' shops " 
of this kind on each side of it, and while the one twenty miles 
(or li) north is Twenty Li Shop, so is the one twenty li south, 
to the great confusion of the traveller, who after all is not sure 
where he is. In addition to this ambiguity, the Thirty Li Shop 
of one city is liable to be confounded with the Thirty Li Shop 
of the next city. It is a common circumstance to find an in- 
significant hamlet with a name comprising foiu: or five charac- 
ters, the local pronunciation of which is generally difficult to 



32 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

catch, as the words are spoken as one prolonged, many- 
syllabled sound. This leads to abbreviations, the same long 
title having perhaps two or three different modes of utterance, 
to the bewilderment of strangers, and to the intense amusement 
of the rustic born on the spot, who cannot conceive what there 
can be so hard to understand about a name which is to him as 
familiar as his own. 

Another source of confusion in the nomenclature of Chinese 
villages, is the almost universal habit of varying one or more 
characters of a name without any apparent reason. The altera- 
tion has no connection with euphony, ease of pronunciation, 
or with any known cause whatever, but seems to be due to an 
irresistible instinct for variety, and to an antipathy to a too 
simple uniformity. Thus a village the proper title of which is 
the Ancient Monastery of the Li Family, (Li Ku Ssu) is 
generally called Li Kuang Ssu ; a village known as that of 
Benevolence and Virtue (Jen Tt Chuang), is ordinarily styled 
J6n Wang Chuang. Analogous to this habit, is that of affixing 
two entirely distinct names to the same little hamlet, neither 
name suggesting the other, and the duplication merely serving 
to confound confusion. Thus a village which has a name de- 
rived from a temple, like Hsiian Ti Miao (the temple to Hsiian 
Ti) is also known as Chang Chuang (the village of the Chang 
Family), but as there are many other villages of Chang fami- 
lies near by this, one will be known by way of distinction, as 
the " Chang Family village which has a temple to Hsiian Ti " ! 
Many persons have occasion to write the names of villages, 
who have but the scantiest knowledge of Chinese characters, 
and they are as likely to indite a false character having the 
same sound as a right one — nay, far more so^ — and thus it hap- 
pens that there is a perpetual uncertainty, never set at rest in 
any manner whatsoever, as to what the real name of a place 
ought to be, for to all Chinese one name is as good as another, 
and in such matters, as in many others, there appears to be no 
intuition of right and wrong. 



yiLLAGE NOMENCLATURE 33 

Chinese villages are only individual Chinese amplified, and, 
like individuals, they are liable to be nicknamed ; and, as often 
happens with human beings, the nickname frequently supplants 
the original, of which no trace may remain in memory. This 
helps to account for the singular appellations of many villages. 
A market-town on the highway, the wells of which afford only 
brackish water, was called *' Bitter Water Shop," but as this 
name was not pleasing to the ear, it was changed on the tax 
lists to "Sweet Water Shop." If any one inquires how it is 
that the same fountain can send forth at the same time waters 
both bitter and sweet, he is answered with conclusive simplicity, 
"Sweet Water Shop is the same as Bitter Water Shop ! " A 
village situated on the edge of a river was named after the two 
leading families, but when the river rose to a great height this 
name sunk out of sight, and there emerged the title, " Look at 
the Water ; ' ' but even this alteration not being sufficient to sat- 
isfy the thirst for variety, the name is written and pronounced as 
if it meant, " Look at the Grave ! " A hamlet named for the Liu 
Family had in it a bully who appeared in a lawsuit with a black 
eye, and hence was called the Village of Liu with the Black 
Eye. In another instance a town had the name of Dropped 
Tooth, merely because the local constable lost a central incisor 
(Lao Ya Chen); but in course of time this fact was forgotten, 
and the name altered into " Market-town of the Crows," (Lao 
Kua Ch6n) which it still retains. 

A village in which most of the families joined the Roman 
Catholics and pulled down all their temples, gained from this 
circumstance the soubriquet of "No Gods Village " (Wu Sh§n 
Chuang). The following specimens of singular village names 
are all taken from an area but a few miles square, and could 
doubtless be paralleled in almost any other region. " The Im- 
perial Horse Yard" (Yii Ma Yiian). This title is said to 
have been inherited from the times of the founder of the Sung 
Dynasty. It is generally corrupted into "Sesame Garden," 
(Chih Ma Yiian). "End of the Cave," a village situated on 



34 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

a great plain, with vague traditions of an underground passage. 
"Seeing the Horse"; ''Horse Words Village," from a tradi- 
tion of a speaking animal; "Sun Family Bull Village"; 
"Female Dog Village"; "Wang Family Great Melon Vil- 
lage "; " Separating from the King Village "; " Basket Village 
of the Liu Village"; " Tiger-catching Village, " and "Tiger- 
striking Fair"; "Duck's Nest of the Chou Family "; " Horse 
Without a Hoof"; "Village of Chang of the Iron Mouth"; 
" Ts'ui Family Wild Pheasant Village "; " Wang Family Dog's 
Tooth "; " Village of the Benevolent and Loving Magistrate "; 
"Village of the Makers of Fine-tooth Combs," (Pi-tzii- 
chiang Chuang), which is now corrupted into "The Village 
Where They Wear Pug-noses " 1 




The Village Cobbler. 




.-mn^'-^- 



Village Broom-Maker. 



IV 

COUNTRY ROADS 

'T^HE contracted quarters in which the Chinese live compel 
-*- them to do most of their work in the street. Even in 
those cities which are provided with but the narrowest passages, 
these slender avenues are perpetually choked by the presence of 
peripatetic vendors of every article that is sold, and by peripa- 
tetic craftsmen, who have no other shop than the street. The 
butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker, and hundreds of 
other workmen as well, have their representatives in perpetual 
motion, to the great impediment of travel. The wider the 
street, the more the uses to which it can be put, so that travel 
in the broad streets of Peking is often as difficult as that in the 
narrow alleys of Canton. An "imperial highway" in China 
is not one which is kept in order by the emperor, but rather 
one which may have to be put in order for the emperor. All 
such highways might rather be called low-ways ; for, as they 
are never repaired, they soon become incomparably worse than 
no road at all. 

If this is true of the great lines of travel over the empire, we 
must not expect to find the village road an illustration of any 
doctrine of political economy. Each of them is simply a forced 
contribution on the part of the owner of the land to the gen- 
eral welfare. It is so much soil on which he is compelled to 
pay taxes, and from which he gets no more good than any one 
else. Each land-owner will, therefore, throw the road on the 
edge of his land, so that he may not be obliged to furnish more 
than half the way. But as the pieces of land which he happens 
to own may be, and generally are, of miscellaneous lengths, the 
road will wind around so as to accommodate the prejudices of 

35 



36 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the owner in this particular, which explains the fact that in 
travelling on village roads it is often necessary to go a great 
distance to reach a place not far off. 

An ordinary road is only wide enough for one vehicle, but 
as it is often necessary for carts to pass one another, this can 
only be done by trespassing on the crops. To prevent this the 
farmer digs deep ditches along his land, resembling gas-mains. 
Each farmer struggles to protect his own land, but when he 
drives his own cart, he too becomes a *' trespasser " ; thus a 
state of chronic and immitigable warfare is established, for 
which there is absolutely no remedy. The Occidental plan of 
setting apart a strip of land of uniform width, free from taxes 
and owned by the state, the grade of which shall be definite, 
is utterly beyond the comprehension of any Chinese. Where 
land is valuable and is all private property, road repairs are out 
of the question. There is no earth to repair with, and without 
repair, the roads soon reach a condition beyond the possibility 
of any repairs. Constant travel compresses and hardens the 
soil, making it lower than the adjacent fields ; perpetual attri- 
tion grinds the earth into banks, which by heavy gales are 
blown in the form of thick dust on the fields. 

In the rainy season the fields are drained into the road, 
which at such times is constantly under water. A slight 
change of level allows the water to escape into some still lower 
road, and thus a current is set up, which becomes first a brook, 
and then a rushing torrent, constantly wearing out its bed. 
This process repeated for decades and for centuries turns the 
road into a canal, several feet below the level of the fields. It 
is a proverb that a road i,ooo years old becomes a river, 
just as a daughter-in-law of many years' standing gradually 
"summers into a mother-in-law." 

By the time the road has sunk to the level of a few feet be- 
low the adjacent land, it is liable to be wholly useless as a 
thoroughfare. It is a canal, but it can neither be navigated 
nor crossed. Intercourse between contiguous villages lying 



COUNTRY ROADS 37 

along a common "highway," is often for weeks together en- 
tirely interrupted. The water drained from the land often 
carries with it large areas of valuable soil, leaving in its 
place a yawning chasm. When the water subsides, the 
owner of the land sallies out to see what has become of this 
section of his farm. It has been dissolved in the canal, but if 
the owner cannot find that particular earth he can find other 
earth just as good. Wherever the light soil called loam, or 
"loess," is found, it splits with a vertical cleavage, leaving 
high banks on each side of a rent in the earth. To repair 
these, the owner takes the soil which he needs from a pit ex- 
cavated by the side of the road, or more probably from the 
road itself, which may thus in a single season be lowered a foot 
or more in depth. All of it is his land, and why should he 
not take it ? If the public wish to use a road, and do not find 
this one satisfactory, then let the public go somewhere else. 

If a road becomes so bad as to necessitate its abandonment, 
a new one must be opened, or some old one adapted to the al- 
tered circumstances. The latter is almost sure to be the alter- 
native ; for who is willing to surrender a part of his scanty 
farm, to accommodate so impersonal a being as the public ? 
In case of floods, either from heavy rains or a break in some 
stream, the only feasible method is thought to be to sit still and 
await the gradual retirement of the water. A raised road 
through the inundated district, which could be used at all sea- 
sons, is a triple impossibility. The persons whose land must 
be disturbed would not suffer it, no one would lift a finger to 
do the work — except those who happened to own land along 
the line of the route — and no one, no matter where he lived, 
would furnish any of the materials which would be necessary 
to render the road permanent. 

An illustration of this state of things is found in a small vil- 
lage in central Chih-li, where lives an elderly lady, in good 
circumstances, a part of whose land is annually subject to flood 
from the drainage of the surrounding region. The evil was so 



38 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

serious that it was frequently impossible to haul the crops home 
on carts, but they had either to be brought on the backs of 
men wading, or, if there were water enough, toilfully dragged 
along on stalk rafts. To this comparatively enlightened woman 
occurred the idea of having her men and teams dig trenches 
along the roadside, raise the road to a level above possible 
flooding, and thus remedy the trouble permanently. This she 
did wholly at her own expense, the emerging road being a 
benefit to the whole country-side. The following winter, dur- 
ing which the contagious influenza was world -prevalent, there 
were several cases in the village terminating fatally. After five 
or six persons had died, the villagers became excited to dis- 
cover the latent cause of the calamity, which was traced to the 
new highway. Had another death occurred they would have 
assembled with spades and reduced it to its previous level, thus 
raising a radical barrier against the grippe ! 

The great lines of Chinese travel might be made permanently 
passable, instead of being, as now, interrupted several months 
of the year, if the Governor of a Province chose to compel the 
several District Magistrates along the line to see that these im- 
portant arteries are kept free from standing water, with ditches 
in good order at all seasons. But for the village road there is 
absolutely no hope until such time as the Chinese villager may 
come dimly to the apprehension that what is for the advantage 
of one is for the advantage of all, and that wise expenditure is 
the truest economy — an idea of which at present he has as little 
conception as of the binomial theorem. 



V 

THE VILLAGE FERRY 

TN the northern part of China, although the streams are not 
-*■ so numerous as at the south, they form more of an obstruc- 
tion to travel, on account of the much greater use made of 
animals and of wheeled vehicles. The Chinese cart is a pecul- 
iarly northern affair, and appears to be of much the same type 
as in ancient days. The ordinary passenger cart is dragged 
by one animal in the cities, and by two in the country. The 
country cart, employed for the hauling of produce and also for 
all domestic purposes by the great bulk of the population, is a 
machine of untold weight. We once put the wheel of one of 
these carts on a platform -scale and ascertained that it weighed 
177 pounds, and the axle fifty-seven pounds in addition, giving 
a total of 411 pounds for this portion of the vehicle. The 
shafts are stout as they have need to be, and when the cart up- 
sets — a not infrequent occurrence — they pin the shaft animal 
to the earth, effectually preventing his running away. Mules, 
horses, cows, and donkeys, are all hitched to these farm carts, 
each pulling by means of loose ropes anchored to the axle. 
To make these beasts pull simultaneously is a task to which 
no Occidental would ever aspire, nor would he succeed if 
he did aspire. General Wolseley mentions in his volume de- 
scribing the campaign in i860, when the army marched on 
Peking, that at Ho Hsi Wu all the Chinese carters deserted, 
and the British troops were totally unable to do anything what- 
ever with the teams. 

Under these conditions of travel, a Chinese ferry is one of 
the most characteristic specimens of the national genius with 
which we are acquainted. Ferries are numerous, and so are 

39 



40 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

carts to be ferried. The interesting thing is to watch the proc- 
ess, and it is a spectacle full of delightful surprises. 

At a low stage of water the ferry-boat is at the base of a slop- 
ing bank, down which in a diagonal line runs the track, never 
wide enough for two carts to pass each other. To get one of 
these large carts down this steep and shelving incline requires 
considerable engineering skill, and here accidents are not in- 
frequent. When the edge of the ferry is reached the whole 
team must be unhitched, and each animal got on the boat as 
best may be. Some animals make no trouble and will give a 
mighty bound, landing somewhere or ever)rwhere to the immi- 
nent peril of any passengers that may be already on board. 
None of the animals have any confidence in the narrow, crooked, 
and irregular gang planks which alone are to be found. The 
more crooked these planks the better, for a reason which the 
traveller is not long in discovering. The object is by no means 
to get the cart and animals on with the minimum of trouble, 
but with the maximum of difficulty, for this is the way by which 
hordes of impecunious rascals get such an exiguous living as 
they have. When an animal absolutely refuses to budge — an 
occurrence at almost every crossing — its head is bandaged with 
somebody's girdle, and then it is led around and around for a 
long time so as to induce it to forget all about the ferryboat. 
At last it is led to the edge and urged to jump, which it will 
by no means do. Then they twist its tail — unless it happens 
to be a mule — put a stick behind it as a lever and get six men 
at each end of the stick, while six more tug at a series of ropes 
attached to the horns. After a struggle lasting in many cases 
half an hour, often after prolonged and cruel beatings, the poor 
beasts are all on board, where the more active of them employ 
their time in prancing about among and over the human pas- 
sengers, to their evident danger. 

Sometimes the animals become excited and break away, 
plunging over the edge of the ferry, which has no guards of any 
kind, and in such cases it is not uncommon for them to be 




Waiting for the Boat. 




Crossing the Ferry. 



THE VILLAGE FERRY 41 

floated away, or even lost. The writer is cognizant of a case 
in which the driver was himself pulled into a swift and swollen 
stream while struggling to restrain his mules, and was drowned, 
a circumstance which probably caused his ''fare" — a scholar 
on his way to or from a summer examination — endless delay, 
as he would be detained at the district yamen for a witness. 

But while we have been busy with the animals, we have 
neglected the cart, which must be dragged upon the ferryboat 
by the strength of a small army of men. There may be only 
one man or a man and a boy on a ferry, but to pull a loaded 
cart over the rugged edges of the planks, up the steep incline, 
requires perhaps ten or fifteen men. This is accomplished by 
the process so familiar at Chinese funerals, the wild yelling of 
large bands of men as they are directed by the leader. 

Every individual who so much as lays a hand upon the cart 
must be paid,- and the only limit is the number who can cluster 
around it. As in all other Chinese affairs there is no regular 
tariff of charges, but the rule is that adopted by some Occi- 
dental railway managers to ''put on all the traffic will bear." 
Suppose for example that the passenger cart only pays a hundred 
cash for its transport across the stream ; this sum must be 
divided into three parts, of which the ferry gets but one and 
the bands of volunteer pullers and pushers on the two banks 
the other two-thirds. \ln this way it often happens that all that 
one of these loafing labourers has to show for his spasmodic toil 
may be four cash, or in extreme cases only two, or even one. 

On the farther bank the scene just described is reversed, but 
occupies a much shorter time, as almost any animal is glad 
enough to escape from a ferry. The exit of the carts and ani- 
mals is impeded by the struggles of those who want to get a 
passage the other way, and who cannot be content to wait till 
the boat is unloaded. There is never any superintendent of 
the boat, any more than of anything else in China, and all is 
left to chance or fate. That people are not killed in the tumul- 
tuous crossings is a constant wonder. 



42 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

It is not unnatural for the Occidental whose head is always 
full of ideas as to how things ougk^ to be done in the East, to 
devise a plan by which all this wild welter should be reduced 
to order. He would, to begin with, have a fixed tariff, and he 
would have a wide and gently sloping path to the water's edge. 
He would have a broad and smooth gang-plank, over which 
both animals and carts could pass with no delay and no incon- 
venience. He would have a separate place for human pas- 
sengers and for beasts, and in general shorten the time, diminish 
the discomforts and occidentalize the whole proceedings. 

Now stop for a moment and reflect how any one of these 
several '* reforms" is to be made a fact accomplished. The 
gendy sloping banks will wash away with the first rise of the 
river ; who is to repair them ? Not the boatman, for ** it is not 
the business of the corn-cutter to pull off the stockings of his 
customers." If the ferry is an *' official " one, that only means 
that the local magistrate has a " squeeze " on the receipts, not 
that there are any corresponding obligations toward facilitating 
travel. Who is to provide those wide gang-planks over which 
the passage is to be so easy ? Not the boatman. Not the pas- 
senger, whose only wish is to get safely over for that single 
time. Not the swarm of loafers whose interest it is not to have 
any gang-planks at all, or as nearly as possible none. 

And even if the roads were made, and the gang-planks all 
provided by some benevolent despot, it would not be a week 
before the planks would be missing, and all things going on as 
they have been since the foundation of the Chinese world. The 
appointment of inspectors, police, etc., etc., would do no man- 
ner of good, unless it should be to their interest to further the 
reform, which would obviously never be the case. 

Imagine an Anglo-Indian official, whose knowledge of Ori- 
ental races and traits is profound, in charge of the ferries for a 
single stretch, say of the Grand Canal. What would he do — 
what could he do, even if backed up by a force theoretically 
irresistible ? Nothing whatever to any lasting or good purpose 



THE VILLAGE FERRY 43 

until the need of some alteration in their system, or rather lack 
of system, forces itself upon the Chinese mind. How long in 
the ordinary process of human evolution it would take to bring 
this about, it is easy to conjecture. Think for an instant of 
the objections which would be made on every hand to the in- 
novations. Who are these fellows ? What are their motives ? 
No Chinese can for a moment comprehend such a conception 
as is embodied in the phrase Fro bono publico. He never 
heard of such a thing, and what is more he never wants to hear 
of it. 

We have wasted an undue amount of time in crossing a 
Chinese river, for 'it is a typical instance of flagrant abuses 
which the Chinese themselves do not mind, which would drive 
Occidentals to the verge of insanity — if not over the brink — \ 
and which it seems easy, but is really impossible to remedy. 
Mutatis mutandiSf these things are a parable of the empire. 
The reform must come. It must be done from within. But 
the impulse can come only from without. 



VI 

VILLAGE WELLS 

/^N the Great Plain of North China the wells are generally 
^-^ shallow, ranging from ten to thirty feet in depth ; one 
of fifty feet would be unusual, though they are occasionally 
much deeper. The well is a very important feature of the outfit 
of a Chinese village, though never the scene of ablutions as in 
India. To save the labour of carrying water, all the animals 
are led to the well to drink, and the resultant mud makes the 
neighbourhood, especially in winter, very disagreeable. Rarely 
have they a cover of any sort, and the opening being level with 
the surface of the ground, it would seem inevitable that ani- 
mals, children and blind persons, should be constantly falling 
in, — as indeed, occasionally, but seldom happens. Even the 
smallest bairns learn to have a wholesome fear of the opening, 
and ages of use have accustomed all Chinese to view such 
dangers with calm philosophy. 

The business of sinking wells is an art by itself, and in re- 
gions where they are commonly used for irrigation, the villagers 
acquire a great reputation for expertness in the process. A 
village which desires a new well sends an invitation to the experts, 
and a party of men, numbering perhaps fifteen or twenty, re- 
sponds. Though the work is fatiguing, difficult, and often 
dangerous, no money payment is generally offered or desired, 
but only a feast to all the workers, of the best food to be had. 
If the well is to be anything more than a water-pit, it is dug as 
deep as can be done without danger of caving in, and then the 
brick lining is let down from above. The basis of this is a 
strong board frame of the exact size of the opening, and wide 
enough to place the walling upon. A section of the wall is 

44 



VILLAGE IVELLS 45 

built upon this base, and the whole is firmly bound to the base- 
board within and without by ropes or reed withes. The lining 
then resembles a barrel without the heads, and when completed 
is so strong that, though it be subjected to considerable and un- 
equal strains, it will neither give nor fall apart. 

Several feet of the lining are lowered into the cavity, and as 
the digging proceeds the lining sinks, and the upper wall is 
built upon it. If it is desired to strike a permanent spring, 
this is accomplished by means of a large bamboo tube to which 
an iron-pointed head is fixed. The tube is driven down as far 
as it will go, the earth and sand being removed from within, 
and when a good supply of water is reached the opening is 
bricked up as usual. Such wells are comparatively rare, and 
proportionately valuable. 

Wherever the soil and water are favourable for market-gardens, 
the country-side abounds in irrigation wells, often only six feet 
in width, and provided with a double windlass or sweep. One 
may meet the gardeners carrying home the ropes, buckets, and 
the windlass itself, none of which can safely be left out over 
night. Village wells are often sunk on ground which is con- 
jointly owned by several families. Like everything else Ori- 
ental, they furnish frequent occasions now, as in patriarchal 
times, for bitter feuds. Whenever one is especially unpopular 
in his village, the first threat is to cut off his water supply, 
though this is not often done. 

In some districts quicksands prevent the sinking of any per- 
manent wells. The villagers are obliged to be up all night in 
order to take their turn at the scanty water supply, and fights 
are not infrequent. In a dry year the suffering is serious. For 
evils of this sort tube-wells would seem to provide a remedy, 
but thus far there has been great difficulty in getting down to 
such a depth as to strike good water. The nature of the 
trouble was aptly described by a coolie employed by a foreigner 
on a work of this kind, who was asked why the pipe was not 
driven deeper. He replied that it was, but <Uhe deeper they 



46 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

went the more there wasn't any water " ! It would appear that 
in the direction of a good water supply, Western knowledge 
might be applied for the benefit of great numbers of Chinese 
and on a large scale, or if not on a large scale, then on a small 
one. 

As an illustration of the process by which this may be done, 
an experience of many years ago in a Shan-tung village is 
worthy of mention. One of the missionaries had the happi- 
ness of welcoming a second son to his household, an event 
which seemed to the Chinese of such happy omen that they 
were moved to unite in subscribing a fixed sum from each 
family in the village, to purchase a silver neck ornament for the 
infant. As the suggestion was not absolutely and peremptorily 
vetoed, the committee in charge went on and ordered the silver 
chain and padlock, after which the delicate question arose by 
what means this gift should be acknowledged. After can- 
vassing many plans, one was at length hit upon which appeared 
to satisfy the requisite conditions, which were in brief that the 
thing bestowed should be a distinct benefit to all the people, 
and one which they could all appreciate. It was proposed to 
put a force-pump in a village well not far from the mission 
premises, where much water was daily drawn by a great many 
people with a great deal of labour. The force-pump would make 
this toil mere child's play. The plan was so plainly fore- 
ordained to success, that one of the missionaries — although 
not having the felicity of two sons — was moved to promise also 
a stone watering trough, which in Chinese phrase, would be a 
** Joy to Ten Thousand Generations." The village committee 
listened gravely to these proposals without manifesting that ex- 
hilaration which the obviously successful nature of the inno- 
vation seemed to warrant, but promised to consider and report 
later. When the next meeting of this committee with the mis- 
sionaries took place, the former expressed a wish to ask a few 
questions. They pointed out that there were four or five wells 
in the village. *' Was it the intention of the Western foreign 



VILLAGE JVELLS 47 

' shepherds ' to put a * water-sucker ' into each of these wells ? " 
No, of course not ; it was meant for the one nearest the mis- 
sion premises. To this it was replied that the trinket for the 
shepherd's child had been purchased by uniform contributions 
from each family in the village. Some of these families lived 
on the front street and some on the back one, some at the east 
end and some at the west end. ^' Would it be consistent with 
the ideal impartiality of Christianity to put a * water-sucker * 
where it could only benefit a part of those for whom it was 
designed ? ' ' 

After an impressive silence the committee remarked that 
there was a further question which had occurred to them. This 
village, though better off than most of those about, had some 
families which owned not a foot of land. These landless per- 
sons had to pick up a living as they could. One way was by 
carrying and selling water from house to house in buckets. 
According to the account of the shepherds the new ** water- 
sucker" would render it so easy to get water that anyone 
could do it, and the occupation of drawers of water would be 
largely gone. It could not be the intention of the benevolent 
shepherds to throw a class of workmen out of work. What 
form of industry did the shepherds propose to furnish to the 
landless class, to compensate them for the loss of their liveli- 
hood? At this point the silence was even more impressive 
than before. After another pause the village committee re- 
turned to their questions. They said that Western inventions 
are very ingenious, but that Chinese villagers "attain unto 
stupidity." As long as the Western shepherds were at hand 
to explain and to direct the use of the *< water-suckers," all 
would doubtless go well; but they had noticed that Western 
inventions sometimes had a way of becoming injured by the 
tooth of time, or by bad management. Suppose that some- 
thing of this sort took place with the "water-sucker," and sup- 
pose that no shepherd was at hand to repair or replace it, what 
should then be done after the villagers had come to depend 



48 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

upon it ? This recalled the fact that a force-pump had been 
tried several years before in Peking, in the deep wells of that 
city, but the fine sand clogged the valves, and it had to be 
pulled up again ! In view of these various considerations, is 
it surprising that the somewhat discouraged shepherds gave up 
the plan of interfering with Oriental industries, or that the 
obligation to the village was finally acknowledged by the pay- 
ment of a sum of money which they used ostensibly for the re- 
pair of the rampart around the village, but which really went 
nobody knows where or to whom ? 



VII 

THE VILLAGE SHOP 

'TpHE Chinese have always divided themselves into the four 
■■' classes of scholars, farmers, workmen, and merchants. 
Considering their singular penchant for trade, it is a surprise to 
find them putting traders at the foot of the list. 

If any one has an idea that the life of a Chinese dealer is an 
easy one, he has a very inaccurate idea indeed, and the smallest 
investigation of any specific case will be sufficient to disabuse 
him of it. Indeed there are not many people in China whose 
life is an easy one, certainly not the officials and the rich, who 
are at once the most envied and the most misunderstood per- 
sons in the empire. 

In Shan-tung, every village of any size has its little '*tsa- 
huo-p'u," or shop of miscellaneous goods. It is not at all like 
a huckster's shop at home, for the goods kept are not intended 
to be disposed of at once. Many of them may remain in stock 
for many years, but they will probably all be worked off at last. 
Occidentals often suppose that the Chinese live on ''curry and 
rice." . Very few people in Shan-tung ever tasted rice in their 
lives, but there is generally a small quantity kept at the *'tsa- 
huo-p'u " in case there should be a call for use at feasts, or for 
the sick. There is a good supply of red paper used for cards 
of invitation, and white paper for funeral announcements, the 
need for which must be met promptly, without waiting for a 
trip to a distant market-town. Besides this there is a large 
stock of fire-crackers which are wanted whenever there is a 
feast-day, a wedding or a funeral, and also paper money and 
other materials for the idolatrous ceremonies which these occa- 

49 



so yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

sions involve. There are many other kinds of wares, for there 
is almost nothing for which a demand may not be made ; but 
the greatest profit is derived from the articles last named. 

Let not the reader, inexpert in Chinese affairs, suppose that 
the keeper of the "tsa-huo-p'u " sits all day in a chair await- 
ing customers, or spends the intervals between their infrequent 
arrivals in playing Chinese fox and geese or chess. He does 
nothing of the kind. If his shop is a very small one it is not 
tended at all, but simply open when occasion serves. If it is a 
larger affair, it requires the time of more than one person, not 
to tend it but to carry on the rural trade. For the larger part 
of the business of the '^ tsa-huo-p'u " is not at home, but at 
five-day markets all about. The proprietors of some shops 
take their wares to a fair every day in the mxonth, on the first 
and sixth to one place, on the second and seventh to another, 
on the third and eighth to another, and on the fifth and tenth 
to still another, by which time the circle is completed. 

Going to one of these markets is no holiday work. It is 
necessary to rise either at daylight or before, select the goods to 
be taken, pack them carefully, make an accurate list of them, 
and then wheel the barrow to the fair, sometimes over very bad 
roads in very bad weather. Arrived at the market-town there 
are no stalls or booths for the dealers to occupy, but each plants 
himself in a spot for which he has to pay a small ground-rent 
to the owner, who is always on hand to collect this rent. All 
day long the barrow must be tended assiduously, bickering 
with all sorts and conditions of men and women, and when the 
people have begun to scatter, the articles must be packed up 
again, and the barrow wheeled home. 

Then comes the wearisome taking account of stock, in re- 
gard to which the proprietor is exceedingly particular. In 
China nobody trusts anybody else, for the excellent reason that 
he is aware that in similar circumstances it might not be safe to 
trust himself.^ Hence the owner of the little shop, or some one 
who represents him, looks carefully over the goods brought home 



i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^F-' s^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^rz^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^m 




M 


M 


w^^ic/ » jk M^^^^nU^^^^Sm^f^^ 




W' 




6 


W 




"jHf^ 


m 



Strings of Chinese Cash. 




Preparing the Strings. 



THE VILLAGE SHOP 51 

and compares them with the invoice made out in the morning. 
This is a check upon the temptation to sell some things without 
giving an account of them. The sales which have been made 
during the day are for small sums only, and as all the cash has 
to be counted and strung on hemp cords so as to make the full 
string of 1,000 cash (or 500 in some parts of the country), 
this counting and stringing of the money takes a great deal of 
time, and is very tiresome work when done by the quantity — 
though this remark is applicable to most Chinese occupations 
viewed from an Occidental point of view. 

The employee of the *Hsa-huo-p^u " gets his meals when he 
can, which is after he has finished everything which his em- 
ployer wants him to do. It is necessary for him to be a rare 
hand if he is to be so useful that he will not be sent away if 
business is slack when the year closes, or if the proprietor gets 
better service from some one else. / The supply of labour of 
every description, is so excessive, that it is very hard to get a 
place, and harder still to keep it. ' 

A country villager with whom the writer is well acquainted 
had too little land to support his family, so he accepted the 
offer of a neighbour to help him with the business which he had 
lately undertaken. This consisted of sending four wheel- 
barrows daily to different villages to sell meat at the markets. 
The men who did this had to rise long before daylight in order 
to get the meat ready, that is to cut it from the bones, which 
are disposed of at a separate rate. The weight of meat on each 
barrow had to be entered and also the weight of the bones. 
On the return of the barrov/s at night it was necessary to weigh 
what was left from the sales and compare it with the returns of 
cash. This must be gone through with for each barrow. The 
assistant to the meat-dealer had to keep in q\\ fourteen different 
account books. *' But," we said to him, *< after the barrows 
are gone, and before they come back, there must be a little in- 
terval of comparative peace in which you can do what you 
like?" **Alas, no," was the reply, "it takes all of that time 



52 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

to balance up the fourteen entries of the day before;" and 
judging from what one knows of Chinese bookkeeping the time 
allowed would not be at all too much. Entries in Chinese ac- 
count-books are not set down in columns, so as to be conveniently 
added, but strung along a page like stockings on a clothes-line. 
Each entry must be treated by itself on the suan-pan or reckon- 
ing-board, and there is no check against errors. Our infor- 
mant was so tired of his contract that he seized the occasion of 
a funeral in a family with which he was connected, and which 
he was in theory bound to attend, to break away and make a 
brief call on the foreign friend who had generally been able to 
sympathize with certain of his previous woes. 

A year later the writer met him again, ascertained that he 
had abandoned the intricate bookkeeping which selling meat 
appeared to involve, for another kind of account-keeping in a 
well-to-do family, where there is a good deal of land and much 
resulting activity. He was asked if he had any time to read 
his book — of which he seemed to be fond — and he replied 
with a decisive negative. Not if he got up early ? No, indeed, 
he had to begin work the minute he was dressed. Not if he 
went to bed a little later ? Certainly not ; he had to go to bed 
late as it was — no time then. But he might at least snatch a 
little leisure while he was eating. "Far from it," was the re- 
sponse, "the woman who is at the head of affairs takes that 
opportunity to consult about the work." 

In the case of firms having any considerable business, after 
the day's work is all over, the clerks are liable to be required 
to spend the evening in untying all the numerous strings of cash 
that have come in, with a view to the discovery of any rare coins 
that might be sold at a special price. All is fish that comes to 
a Chinese net, and sooner or later there is very little that does 
not find its way there to the profit of its owner. -If the time 
should ever come, as come it may, when the far-distant West 
comes into close and practical competition with the patient 
Chinese for the right to exist, one or the other will be behind- 



THE yiLLAGE SHOP 53 

hand in the race and it is safe to venture the prediction that it 
will not be the Chinese ! ) 

The village shop keeps different kinds of weighing poles for 
buying and for selling, works off all its uncurrent cash and bad 
bills on any one upon whom it can impose, and generally 
drives a hard bargain with those who deal with it, who 
retaliate in kind as opportunity offers. But as elsewhere in this 
mixed world, much depends upon the individuality of its head 
manager. 



vm 

THE VILLAGE THEATRE 

'npHAT the Chinese are extravagantly fond of theatrical rep- 
-'" resentations, is well known to all who live in China. The 
Chinese trace the origin of the stage to the times of the Em- 
peror Ming Huang, of the T'ang Dynasty (died 762) who, 
under an alias, is supposed to be worshipped as the god of play- 
actors. It is a popular saying that if the players neglect to do 
homage to this patron, they will altogether fail in their repre- 
sentations, whatever these may be. 

With the history of the Chinese stage, we have in this con- 
nection no concern. According to the Chinese themselves, it 
has degenerated from its ancient function of a censor in morals, 
and has become merely a device for the amusement of the 
people. It is a remarkable circumstance that while the Chinese 
as a people are extravagantly fond of theatrical exhibitions of 
all sorts, the profession of play-actor is one of the few which 
debars from the privileges of the literary examinations. The 
reason for this anomaly is said to be the degradation of the 
theatre by pandering to vitiated or even licentious tastes. To 
what extent the plays ordinarily acted are of this sort, it is im- 
possible for a foreigner to decide. The truth seems to be that 
the general (theoretical) contempt for the stage and its actors 
in China, is a product of the moral teachings of Confucianism, 
which uncompromisingly condemn the perversion of the right 
uses of dramatic representation. But while this (theoretical) 
view is the one which is constantly met, it is like many other 
Confucian doctrines, chiefly remarkable for the unanimity with 
which it is disregarded in practice. 

In what we have to say of Chinese theatres, we must dis- 

54 



THE VILLAGE THEATRE 55 

claim any knowledge of them at first hand, that is to say, by 
listening to acted plays. There are several obstacles to the ac- 
quisition of such knowledge by this method, even were other 
difficulties lacking. Most Chinese plays are laid out upon so 
extravagant a scale, as regards time, that they may be spread 
over many hours, or possibly several days. The most inde- 
fatigable European could not listen to the entire performance 
of any one of them, without becoming utterly exhausted. The 
dialect in which the actors speak is so diiferent from the spoken 
language, that it is hard to form an idea of what they are say- 
ing. The tone adopted is that shrill falsetto, which is not only 
fatiguing to an Occidental hearer, but almost of necessity unin- 
telligible. 

When to these embarrassments are added the excruciating 
music, the discomfort attending the dense crowds, and the uni- 
versal confusion which is an invariable concomitant of a Chinese 
theatre, it is not strange that these representations have for 
Westerners very few attractions, after the first glance has satis- 
fied curiosity. This indifference on our part is almost unintel- 
ligible to the Chinese. That a foreign traveller, who is told of 
a theatre in full blast at the town at which he expects to spend 
the night, should feel no joy, but should deliberately push on 
so as to avoid spending the night at that place — this is to the 
Chinese profoundly incomprehensible. 

Except in a few large cities, the Chinese have no theatres in 
our sense of the term, provided with seats and enclosed by 
walls and roof. The stage is a very simple affair, and is en- 
tirely open to inspection. Sometimes it is built like a temple 
with an open front. But by far the larger part of the rural rep- 
resentations of theatrical companies take place on a tem- 
porary scaffolding which is put up for the purpose the night 
before the plays begin, and is taken down the moment the last 
play closes. The players resemble their ancient Grecian proto- 
types in that they are a migratory band, going wherever they 
are able to find an engagement. 



56 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

The stage equipments, like the stage itself, are of the simplest 
order, the spectator being required to supply by his imagination 
most of those adjuncts in the way of scenery, which in our 
days, are carried to such perfection in the theatres of the West. 
There is no division of a play into separate acts or scenes, and 
what cannot be inferred from the dress, or the pantomime 
of the actors, they must exprqssly tell to the audience, as for 
example who they are, what they have been doing, and the 
like. The orchestra is an indispensable accompaniment of a 
theatrical representation, and not only bursts into every in- 
terval of the acting, but also clangs with ferocity at such stir- 
ring scenes as a battle attack, or to add energy to any ordinary 
event. 

Apropos of this resemblance between the Greek stage and 
the Chinese, which must have struck many observers, Mr. H. 
E. Krehbiel (in an article published in the Century for January, 
1891) has declared that ''the Chinese drama is to-day in 
principle a lyric drama, as much so as the Greek tragedy was. 
The moments of intense feeling are accentuated, not merely by 
accompanying music, as in our melodrama, but by the actor 
breaking out into song. The crudeness and impotency of the 
song in our ears has nothing to do with the argument. It is a 
matter of heredity in taste." 

The village theatrical company owes its existence to some 
rich man, who selects this as a form of investment. As all the 
available land in the greater portion of China is wholly out of 
the market, it is not easy for one who has more money than he 
can conveniently use to decide what to do with it. If he should 
go into the theatrical business, it is not necessarily with the ex- 
pectation that the money will yield him a large return, but in 
order to provide a popular amusement for a great number of 
people, and at the same time receive a larger or smaller interest 
on the amount invested. 

The person whose capital is used in the costumes, which are 
the main part of the outfit of a Chinese theatre, is called the 



THE l^ ILL AGE THEATRE 57 

** Master of the chest." The whole outfit may be leased of 
him by an association of persons, who pay a fixed sum for the 
use of the costumes, which must be kept in good condition. In 
a first-class theatre, these costumes are very costly, and include 
what are called "dragon robes," and ** python robes," each 
with double sets of inner garments, of fine quality, and hand- 
somely embroidered. Of these there are at least two suits, five 
suits of armour, and numberless other articles of clothing, such 
as trousers, skirts, boots, buskins, etc. Another "chest " con- 
tains the accoutrements of the players, as swords, spears, and 
the like, made of gilded wood. 

The value of all these various equipments, in a well-furnished 
theatre, is said to be fully ^5,000, and in those of the cheaper 
sorts, two-thirds or half as much. Each of the three " chests " 
in which the stage accoutrements are stored, is in charge of 
three men, who are responsible for the security and the care of 
the contents of the cases. 

The players are divided into classes which are called by dif- 
ferent names, the members of each class receiving pay accord- 
ing to the dignity of their position. There are, for example, 
two individuals, one civil and one military, who represent high- 
class historical characters, like Chiang T'ai-kung, etc. These 
actors are called lao-shing. Another class styled hushing^ 
represent personages like Wen Wang, or Chao K'uang-yin. A 
third class are assigned to characters like Lii Pu, etc., and 
these players are called hsiao-sheng. In addition to these are 
persons of less importance, who represent ladies, officials' 
wives, young girls, or others. After these come what may be 
called clowns, who are termed "flowery-faced," (Jiua-lien) 
subdivided into first, second and third. These represent the 
bad characters, such as Chou Wang, Ts'ao Ts'ao, and the like, 
down to the lowest class who take the most despised and hate- 
ful parts of all. In addition to these main characters, there is 
a considerable force detailed as soldiers, servants, messengers, 
or to personify boatmen, innkeepers, and the like. The rear 



S8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

is brought up with a large staff of cooks, water-carriers, etc., 
whose duty it is to provide for the material comfort of the 
players in their vagrant life. 

Aside from the regular theatrical companies one frequently 
meets with companies of amateurs who have inherited the art 
of giving performances on a small scale called "a little theatre." 
They are young farmers who delight in the change and excite- 
ment of stage life, and who after the crops are harvested are 
open to engagements until the spring work begins. There may 
be only fifteen or twenty in the band, but the terms are low, 
and the food furnished them much better than they would have 
had at home, and when the season is over they may be able to 
divide a snug little sum to each performer. 

The manager, or lessee of the theatrical equipment, is called 
a chang-pan^ and engages the players for a term of about ten 
months, beginning early in the spring, and ending before the 
close of the year. The whole company may number between 
fifty and a hundred men, and the best actors may be engaged 
for sums ranging from the equivalent of a hundred dollars for 
the most skilled, down to a few tens of dollars for the inferior 
actors, their food in each case being furnished. It is thus easy 
to see that the expense of maintaining a theatre is a vast drain 
upon the resources of the lessee, and presupposes a constant 
succession of profitable engagements, which is a presupposition 
not infrequently at a great remove from the facts of ex- 
perience. 

The lessee of the theatre supplies himself with the material 
for the development of actors, by taking children on contract, 
or apprenticeship, for a fixed period (often three years) accord- 
ing to a written agreement. At the end of their apprenticeship, 
these pupils are at liberty to engage in any company which they 
may elect, for whatever they can get, but during their term of 
indenture, their time belongs to the man who has leased them 
of their parents. The motive for such a contract on the part 
of the parents, is to secure a support for the children. Some- 



THE VILLAGE THEATRE 59 

times children run away from home and make engagements on 
their own account, attracted by the supposed freedom of the 
player's life. 

The amount which each child receives during the time of his 
apprenticeship, is the merest pittance, and it is said that in 
three months at most he can learn all that it is necessary for 
him to know. A large part of his duties will be to strut about 
on the stage, and mouth more or less unintelligible sentences in 
a grandiloquent tone. If the number of plays in which he ap- 
pears is large, the tax upon the memory may be considerable, 
but Chinese children can learn by rote with amazing facility, 
and constant practice must in a short time fix in his memory 
everything which the young actor requires to remember. 

From an Occidental point of view, it would be hard to ima- 
gine anything more remote from a life of pleasure, than the 
constant locomotion, routine drudgery, uncertain and inade- 
quate remuneration of the average Chinese actor. We have 
never met one who did not admit that it was a bad life. A 
leading Japanese actor is quoted as saying that the popular 
notions in regard to the theatre of that country — which is prob- 
ably in many respects analogous to that of China — are as dif- 
ferent from the reality, as clouds from mud. " The hardships 
endured are as the suffering of Hades, and the world is not 
benefited a fraction by the actors' exertion, so they are not 
useful to society. It is a life to fear and to dread." There 
are probably very few Chinese actors who have progressed so 
far as to entertain, even for a moment, the thought whether 
their work is a good or an evil to ''society." 

It is not uncommon to hear of an exceptionally intelligent 
District Magistrate who issues proclamations strictly forbidding 
theatrical performances within his jurisdiction, exhorting the 
people to save their funds to buy grain and relieve the poor, or 
to set up public schools. But the only way to enforce these 
sensible orders of an unusually paternal official, is for him to 
make constant personal inspection, and see that his commands 



6o VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

are heeded. Otherwise, a sum of money judiciously spent at 
the yamen, will buy complete immunity from punishment. 
Free schools and charity are too tame for the taste of the peo- 
ple, who demand something *'hot-and-bustHng," which a the- 
atrical performance most decidedly is. 

It is one of the contradictions which abound in the Chinese 
social life, that while play-actors are theoretically held in very 
light esteem, the representation of a play is considered as a 
great honour to the person on whose behalf it is furnished. In- 
stances have occurred in China, in which such a representation 
has been offered by the Chinese to foreigners, as an expression 
of gratitude for help received in time of famine. The motives 
in such cases, however were probably very mixed, being com- 
posed largely of a desire on the part of the proposers to gratify 
their own tastes, while at the same time paying off in a public 
manner a technical debt of gratitude. 

To suggest under such circumstances that the money which 
would have been absorbed in the expenses of the theatre, 
should rather be appropriated to the purposes of some public 
benefit, such as a free-school, would not commend itself to one 
Chinese in a thousand. Only a limited number of scholars 
could receive the benefit of a free-school, whereas a theatre is 
emphatically for everybody. Moreover, a theatre is demon- 
strative and obtrusively thrusts itself upon the attention of the 
general public in a manner which to the Oriental is exceedingly 
precious, while to set up a free-school would be "to wear a 
fine garment in the dark," when no one would know the dif- 
ference. 

The occasion for the performance of a play is sometimes a 
vow, which may have been made by an individual in time of 
sickness, the theatricals to be the expression of gratitude for re- 
covery. In the case of an entire village, it is often the return- 
ing of thanks to some divinity for a good harvest, or for a 
timely rain. A quarrel between individuals is frequently com- 
posed by the adjudication of "peace-talkers" that one of the 



THE TILLAGE THEATRE 6i 

parties shall give a theatrical exhibition by way of a fine, in the 
benefits of which the whole community may thus partake. In 
view of the well-known propensities of the Chinese, it is not 
strange that this method of adjusting disputes is very popular. 
We have known it to be adopted by a District Magistrate in 
settling a lawsuit between two villages, and such cases are prob- 
ably not uncommon. 

Sometimes there is no better reason for holding a theatre 
than that a sum of public money has accumulated, which there 
is no other way to spend. A foreigner could easily propose 
fifty purposes to which the funds could be appropriated to 
much better advantage, but to the Chinese these suggestions 
always appear untimely, not to say preposterous. 

When it has been determined to engage a theatre, the first 
step is to draw up a written agreement with the manager, speci- 
fying the price. This will vary from a sum equivalent to 
twenty-five dollars, up to several hundred dollars. The former 
amount is, indeed, a bottom price, and would be offered only 
to a very inferior company, which might be forced to accept it, 
or even a less sum, as better in a slack season than no engage- 
ment at all. During the time of the year, on the contrary, in 
which the demand for theatricals is at the maximum, a com- 
pany may have offers from several villages at once. Rather 
than lose the double profit to be made, the troupe is often di- 
vided, and a number of amateurs engaged to take the vacant 
places, thus enabling the company to be in two places at the 
same date. 

It is a common proverb that the country villager who wit- 
nesses a theatre, sees only a great hubbub, a generalisation 
strictly within the truth. It is upon this ignorance of the 
villager that the theatrical manager presumes when he furnishes 
an inferior representation, instead of the one for which his con- 
tract calls. But if the villager ascertains the fraud, consisting 
either in deficiency of players or inferior acting, he rises in 
democratic majesty, and '' fines " the company an extra day or 



62 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

two, or even three days, of playing as a penalty, and from this 
decision it would be vain to appeal. 

The individual who communicates with the village which 
hires the theatrical company, and who receives the money, is 
called the program bearer Q^pao-tan ti''). The scorn in 
which theatrical folk are supposed to be held, appears to be re- 
served for this one individual alone. He makes arrangements 
for the conveyance of all the trunks containing the equipment 
from the previous place of playing, to the next one, and espe- 
cially for the transportation of the staging. 

In inland regions, where it is necessary to use animals, it re- 
quires a great many carts to move about so much lumber, which 
must be done with great expedition in order not to waste a day, 
at a time when engagements are numerous ; and, even to a Chi- 
nese, time is precious, because the food and pay of so many 
persons have to be taken into the account. The carts for this 
hauling are provided by the village which is to enjoy the ex- 
hibition, being often selected by lot. Sometimes, however, a 
small tax is levied on all the land in the village, and the carts 
are hired. 

The day previous to a theatre in any village is a busy one. 
Great quantities of mats are provided, and in a short time 
some barren spot on the outskirts of the hamlet begins to as- 
sume the appearance of an impromptu settlement ; for aside 
from the theatre itself, great numbers of small mat-sheds are put 
up to be used for cook-shops, tea-shops, gambling-booths, and the 
like. During the day, even if the village is but a small one, 
the appearance is that of the scene of a very large fair. 

In the larger towns, where fairs are held at more or less 
regular intervals, it is usual, as already mentioned, to begin 
them with a theatrical exhibition, on the first day of which 
hardly any business will be done, the attendants being mainly 
occupied in gazing at or listening to the play. In such cases 
the attendants can frequently be safely estimated at more 
than 10,000 persons. In large fairs there is generally a per- 



THE VILLAGE THEATRE 63 

formance every day as long as the fair holds, an arrangement 
which is found to be very remunerative from a financial point 
of view in attracting attendance, and therefore customers. 

From a social point of view, the most interesting aspect of 
Chinese village theatricals is the impression which is produced 
upon the people as a whole. This impression may be feebly 
likened to that which is made upon children in Western lands, 
by the immediate imminence of Christmas, or in the United 
States by the advent of a Fourth of July. To theatrical holi- 
days in China every other mundane interest must give way. 

As soon as it is certain that a particular village is to have a 
theatre, the whole surrounding country is thrown into a quiver 
of excitement. Visits by young married women to their moth- 
ers' homes, always occasions to both mothers and daughters 
of special importance, are for a long time beforehand arranged 
with sole reference to the coming great event. All the schools 
in all the neighbouring villages expect at such times a holiday 
during the whole continuance of the theatricals. Should the 
teacher be so obstinate as to refuse it (which would never be 
the case, as he himself wishes to see the play) that circum- 
stance would make no difference, for he would find himself 
wholly deserted by all his pupils. 

It is not only brides who take advantage of this occasion to 
visit their relatives, but in general it may be said that when a 
village gives a theatrical representation, it must count upon 
being visited, during the continuance of the same, by every 
man, woman and child, who is related to any inhabitant of the 
village and who can possibly be present. Every Chinese family 
has a perfect swarm of relatives of all degrees, and the time 
of a theatrical performance is an excellent opportunity to look 
in upon one's friends. Whether these friends and relatives 
have been invited or not, will make no difference. In the case 
of ordinary villagers, the visitors would come even if they knew 
for certain that they were not wanted. 
\ It has frequently been remarked that hospitality as such can- 



64 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

not be said to be a characteristic Chinese virtue, although there 
is at all times such a parade of it^ But whatever one's feelings 
may be, it is necessary to keep up the pretence of overflowing 
hospitality, so that whoever comes to the yard must be pressed 
to stay to a meal and to spend the night, however anxious the 
host may be to get rid of him. On ordinary occasions, guests 
will not stay without such an amount of urging as may suffice 
to show that the invitation is dona fide^ but during the contin- 
uance of a theatre it often makes very little difference how 
lacking the host may be in cordiality, the guests will probably 
decide to stay, as the play must be seen. 

It is by no means an uncommon thing to find that in a vil- 
lage which has engaged a theatrical troupe, every family is 
overrun with such visitors, to such a degree that there is not 
space enough for them to lie down at night, so that they are 
forced to spend it in sitting up and talking, which may be easily 
conceived to be an excellent preparation for the fatiguing duties 
of the morrow. As a theatre seldom lasts less than three days, 
and sometimes more than four, it can be imagined what a tax 
is laid upon the village which is overrun. When it is consid- 
ered that every married woman who returns to her home, as 
well as every woman who visits any relative, always brings all 
of her young children, and that the latter consider it their 
privilege to scramble for all that they can get of whatever is 
to be had in the way of food, it is obvious that the poor house- 
keeper is subjected to a tremendous strain, to which the severest 
exigencies of Western life afford very few analogies. 

The cost of feeding such an army of visitors is a very serious 
one, and to the thrifty Chinese it seems hard that fuel which 
would ordinarily last his family for six months, must be burnt 
up in a week, to ** roast " water, and cook food for people whom 
he never invited, and most of whom he never wished to see. 
It is a moderate estimate that the expense of entertainment is 
ten times the cost of the theatre itself, realizing the famiHar 
saying that it is not the horse which costs but the saddle. 



THE VILLAGE THEATRE 65 

The vast horde of persons who are attracted to the village 
which has a theatre, has among its numbers many disreputable 
characters, against whom it is necessary for the villagers to be 
constantly upon their guard. For this reason, as well as on ac- 
count of the necessity for being on hand to took after the 
swarms of guests, the people of the village have little or no 
opportunity to see the play themselves. Guests and thieves 
occupy all their time ! Eternal vigilance is the price at which 
one's property is to be protected, and the more one has to lose, 
the less he will be able to enjoy himself, until the danger is 
over. It is a common observation that, after a theatrical per- 
formance, there is not likely to be a single chicken left in a 
village. To prevent them from being stolen by the expert 
chicken-thieves, the villagers must dispose of their fowls in 
advance. 

Such being the conditions under which the Chinese village 
theatre is held, it is surprising that so great a number of theat- 
rical troupes contrive to make a living — such as it is — out of 
so precarious an occupation, which is likely to fail altogether 
during years of famine or flood (never few in number), and 
also during the whole of each period of imperial mourning, 
when actors are often reduced to extreme misery. One reason 
for their passionate attachment to the theatre, must be found in 
the fact that for the Chinese people there are very few 
available amusements, and for the mass of the country people 
there is literally nothing to which they can look forward as a 
public recreation, except a few feast days (often only two or 
three in the year), the large fairs with accompanying theatric- 
als, or theatricals without fairs. 

It is evident that a form of exhibition which is so much 
valued by the Chinese, may become an important agency in in- 
flaming the minds of the people. This is at times undoubtedly 
the case. Many instances have come to the knowledge of 
foreigners, in which theatricals representing the Tientsin mas- 
sacre or some similar event, have been acted in the interior of 



66 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

China. In some cases this is doubtless done with the conniv- 
ance of the magistrates, and it is easy to see that the effect 
upon the minds of the people must be very unfavourable, if it 
is held to be desirable to maintain among the Chinese respect 
for foreigners. 

In China, as in other lands, it is easy for theatrical represen- 
tations to deal with current events which have a general interest. 
In a certain case of warfare involving two different Counties, as 
to the right to make a bank to prevent inundation, several lives 
were lost and a formidable lawsuit resulted. The occurrences 
were of such a dramatic character that they were woven into a 
play, which was very popular at a little distance from the scene 
of the original occurrence. 

The representation of historical events, by Chinese theatres, 
may be said to be one of the greatest obstacles to the acquisi- 
tion of historical knowledge by the people. Few persons read 
histories, while every one hears plays, and while the history is 
forgotten because it is dull, the play is remembered because it 
is amusing. Theatricals, it is scarcely necessary to remark, do 
not deal with historical events from the standpoint of accuracy, 
but from that of adaptation to dramatic effect. The result is 
the greatest confusion in the minds of the common people, both 
as to what has really happened in the past, and as to when it 
took place, and for all practical, purposes, fact and fiction are 
indistinguishable. 

Among the most popular Chinese plays, are those which deal 
with everyday life, in its practical forms. Cheap and badly 
printed books, in the forms of tracts, containing the substance 
of these plays, are everywhere sold in great numbers, and aid 
in familiarizing the people with the plots. 

Our notice of the Chinese drama may fitly conclude with a 
synopsis of one of these librettos, which contains a play of 
general celebrity, to which references are constantly made in 
popular speech. It is said to have been composed by a native 
of Shan-hsi, and is designed as a satire upon the condition of 



THE VILLAGE THEATRE 67 

society in -which, as so often in China at the present day, 
it is almost impossible for a teacher, theoretically the most 
honoured of beings, to keep himself from starvation. 

It is a current proverb that in the province of Shan-tung, the 
number of those who wish to teach school is in excess of those 
who can read ! The scene of this play is therefore appropri- 
ately laid in the land of the sages Confucius and Mencius, and 
in a district within the jurisdiction of the capital, Chi-nan Fu. 

The characters are only two in number, a teacher called Ho 
Hsien-sheng who is out of employment, and reduced to ex- 
treme distress, and a patron named Li, who wishes to engage a 
master for his boys, aged nine and eleven. The teacher's re- 
marks are mixed with extensive quotations from the Classics, as 
is the manner of Chinese schoolmasters, who wish to convey 
an impression of their great learning. He affirms that his suc- 
cess in instruction is such that he will guarantee that his pupils 
shall reach the first degree of hsiu-ts^at, or Bachelor, in three 
years, the second of chiijen, or Master, in six, and attain to 
the eminence of chin-shihy or Doctor, in twelve. 

The teacher begins by a poetical lament that he had lost his 
place as a teacher, and that a scholar so situated is far worse off 
than a handicraftsman, who, he says, has always enough to eat. 
After this, the teacher comes on the stage, crying out like a 
peddler, ''Teach School! Teach School!" Upon this Li 
comes forward, suggests that a man who offers to teach prob- 
ably knows at least how to read, and explains that he feels the 
need of some one in the family who can decipher the tax bills, 
etc., but that he really cannot afford the expense of a teacher 
for his children. 

He explains that his boys are dull, that the food of the 
teacher — the bill of fare of which he details — will be poor and 
coarse. There will be only two meals a day, to save expense, 
and at night there will be no fire. The coverlet is a torn dog- 
skin, no mat on the bed, only a little straw, and no pillow. 
The salary is to be but 8,000 cash a year, but this is subject to 



68 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

a discount, 800 counting for 1,000. The teacher is never to 
leave the schoolyard while school is in session. 

The school will be held in a temple, hitherto occupied by 
nuns. These will be removed to a side room, and the teacher 
will be required to strike the bell, sweep out the building, and 
perform the other necessary services on the first and fifteenth 
of each month, and these duties must be executed with punc- 
tilious care. He is also cautioned not to allow his morals to be 
contaminated by the nuns whose reputation is so proverbially 
bad. None of his salary will be paid in advance, and a pro 
rata deduction will be made for every day of absence. During 
the summer rains the teacher must carry the children to school 
upon his back, that they may not spoil their clothes and make 
their mother trouble. Whenever school has been dismissed, 
the teacher is to carry water, work on the threshing floor, take 
care of the children, grind in the mill, and do all and every- 
thing which may be required of him. To all the foregoing 
conditions, the teacher cheerfully assents, and declares himself 
ready to sign an agreement upon these terms for the period of 
ten years ! 

Perhaps the most instructive aspect of Chinese theatricals, is 
that which takes account of them as indices to the theory of 
life which they best express, a theory in which most Chinese are 
firm, albeit unconscious, believers. It is a popular saying that 
"The whole world is only a stageplay; why then should men 
take life as real?" It is in strict accordance with this view, 
that the Chinese frequently appear as if psychologically 
incapable of discriminating between practical realities which are 
known to be such, and theoretical ** realities" which, if mat- 
ters are pushed to extremities, are admitted to be fictitious. 

The spectacular theory of life is never for a moment lost 
sight of in China, and it demands a tribute which is freely, un- 
consciously, continually, and universally paid. It is upon this 
theory that a large proportion of Chinese revelling is based, the 
real meaning being, ''You have wronged me, but I am not 



THE VILLAGE THEATRE 69 

afraid of you, and I call upon all men to witness that I defy 
you." It is this theory upon which are grounded nine-tenths 
of the acts which the Chinese describe as being done *'to save 
face," that is, to put the actor right with the spectators, and to 
prove to them that he is able to play his part and that he knows 
well what that part is. Never, surely, was it more true of any 
land than of China, that 

" All the world's a stage, 
And all the men and women merely players." 



IX ^ 

VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 

'T^HE prominent place giyen to education in" China renders 
"'' the Chinese village school an object of more than com- 
mon interest, for it is here that by far the greater number of 
the educated men of the empire receive their first intellectual 
training. While the schools of one district may be a little bet- 
ter or worse than those of another, there is probably no country 
in the world where there is so much uniformity in the stand- 
ards of instruction, and in all its details, as in China. 

There are in the Chinese Classics several passages which 
throw an interesting light upon the views which have been 
handed down from antiquity in regard to the education of chil- 
dren. One of these is found in the writings of Mencius. Upon 
one occasion he was asked why the superior man does not 
teach his own son. To this Mencius replied that the circum- 
stances of the case forbid it. The teacher should inculcate 
what is correct. When he does so, and his lessons are not 
practiced, he follows it up by being angry. Thus he is alienated 
from his son who complains to himself that his father teaches 
one thing and practices another. As a result the estrangement 
becomes mutual and deepens. Between father and son, said 
Mencius, there should be no reproving admonitions to what is 
good, because these lead to such alienations. The ancients, he 
declared, exchanged sons, and one taught the son of another. 

Another significant passage is found in the Confucian Ana- 
lects, and is as follows, quoting, as before, Dr. Legge's transla- 
tion, **Ch<dn K^ang asked Po Yii, the son of Confucius, say- 
ing, ' Have you heard any lessons from your father, different 

70 



yiLLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 71 

from what we have all heard ? ' Po Yii replied, * No ; he was 
once standing alone when I hurriedly passed below the hall, and 
he said to me, ** Have you learned the Odes ? " on my repl)dng, 
''not yet," he added, " If you do not learn the Odes, you will 
not be fit to converse with." I retired and studied the Odes. 
Another day he was in the same way standing alone, when I 
hastily passed below the hall, and he said to me, "Have you 
learned the Rules of Propriety ? " on my replying, " not yet," he 
added, "If you do not learn the Rules of Propriety, your char- 
acter cannot be established." I then retired and studied the 
Rules of Propriety. I have heard only these two things from 
him.' Ch'en K'ang retired, delighted, saying, ' I asked 
about one thing, and I have got three things. I have heard 
about the Odes, I have heard about the Rules of Propriety, and 
I have heard that the superior man maintains a distant reserve 
toward his son.' " 

Confucius was a master who felt himself to be in possession 
of great truths of which his age was in deep need, and he of- 
fered his instructions to rich and poor alike, upon the sole con- 
dition of receptivity. " I do not open up the truth," he said, 
" to one who is not eager to get knowledge, nor help out any 
one who is not anxious to explain himself. When I have pre- 
sented one corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from 
it learn the other three, I do not repeat the lesson." For aught 
that appears, the son of Confucius was wholly dependent for 
whatever he knew or received, upon his father. According to 
Confucius, an acquaintance with the Odes, and with the Rules 
of Propriety, form a very considerable part of the equipment of 
a scholar. They embrace such subjects as could be compre- 
hended and assimilated, one would suppose, only by the as- 
sistance of a competent teacher. That in the education of his 
own son, Confucius should have contented himself with a 
casual question, and a single hint, as to the pursuit of those 
branches which were in his eyes of preeminent importance, is a 
circumstance so singular that if it were not handed down upon 



72 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the same authority as the other facts in the life of the sage, we 
might be disposed to doubt its credibility. 

The theory upon which the master acted is happily epito- 
mized by Ch'en K'ang — "distant reserve." Even to his own 
son the superior man is a higher grade of being, whose slightest 
word contains fruitful seeds of instruction. He expects his 
pupil to act upon a hint as if it were the formal announcement 
of a law of nature. He is the sun around whom his planets re- 
volve, in orbits proportioned to the force of the central attrac- 
tion — an attraction which varies with the capacity to be at- 
tracted. Yet in every case there is a point beyond which no 
pupil can go, he must not come too near his sun. 

According to Occidental thought, the ideal of teaching is 
exemplified in the methods of such educators as Dr. Arnold, 
of Rugby, whose stimulating influence was felt over an entire 
generation. Upon the plan of Confucius it is difficult to see, 
not how he could have won the love of his pupils — which was 
probably remote from his thought and from theirs — but how he 
could have permanently impressed himself upon any except the 
very apt. Few are the pupils, we may be sure, who after a 
chance question and a remark will retire and study unaided a 
branch of learning which, they are told, will enable them to 
converse, or to "establish " their characters. 

Contrast with this method of Confucius that of James Mill, 
as detailed in the autobiography of his son, John Stuart Mill. 
Here was a father, not a professional philosopher, but a man of 
business, who amid the composition of historical and other 
works, found time to superintend the education of his son from 
the days of earliest infancy until mature manhood, not in the 
ancient language only, but in history, philosophy, political 
economy, composition, and even in elocution, and all with 
comprehensiveness of plan, a labourious and unwearying persist- 
ence in teaching principles and not rules, combined with scru- 
pulous fidelity in minutest details. By this patient assiduity and 
his father's skillful direction. Mill was given a start over his 



yiLLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAyELLING SCHOLARS 73 

contemporaries, as he himself remarks, of at least a quarter of 
a century, and became one of the most remarkably educated 
men of whom we have any record. One could wish that to 
his ** imaginary conversations pf literary men and statesmen," 
Walter Savage Landor had added a chapter giving a dia- 
logue between Confucius and James Mill, ''on distant reserve 
as a factor in the education of sons." 

It is far from being the fact that every Chinese village has its 
school, but it is doubtless true that every village would like to 
have one, for there is everywhere the most profound reverence 
for "instruction." The reasons given for the absence of a 
school are always that the village is too poor, or too small, or 
bbth. 

In China every educated man is a potential schoolmaster, 
and most of those who have the opportunity to do so take a 
school. It is one of the allegorical sayings of the flowery land 
that '*in the ink-slab fields there are no bad crops," which 
signifies that literature is a vocation standing upon a firmer 
basis than any other. This is the theory. As a matter of fact 
the Chinese teacher is often barely able to keep soul and body 
together, and is frequently obliged to borrow garments in which 
to appear before his patrons. His learning may have fitted 
him to teach a school, or it may not. It has completely unfitted 
him to do anything else. It is therefore a period of great anx- 
iety to the would-be pedagogue when the school cards are in 
preparation. 

" When the ground is clean, and the threshing-floor bare, 
The teacher's heart is filled with care," 

says the proverb, and another adage is current, to the effect 
that if one has a few bags of grain on hand, he is not obliged to 
be king over children. 

To the enormous oversupply of school-teachers, it is due that 
one of the most honourable of callings is at the same time one 



74 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

of the most ill-paid. Teachers of real ability, or who have in 
some way secured a great reputation, are able to command sal- 
aries in proportion ; but the country schoolmaster, who can 
compete for a situation within a very small area only, is often 
/remunerated with but a mere pittance — an allowance of grain 
/supposed to be adequate for his food, a supply of dried stalks 
/ for fuel, and a sum in money, frequently not exceeding ten 
\ Mexican dollars for the year. It is not very uncommon to 
meet teachers who have but one or two pupils, and who receive 
for their services little or nothing more than their food. To 
the natural inquiry whether it was worth his while to teach for 
such a slender compensation, a schoolmaster of this class re- 
plied, that it was better than staying at home with nothing to 
eat. It is a current saying that the rich never teach school, 
and the poor never attend one — though to this there are excep- 
tions. It is a strange fact that one occasionally meets school- 
masters who have never studied anything beyond the Four 
Books, and who therefore know nothing of the Five Classics, an 
outfit comparable to that of a Western teacher who should only 
have perused his arithmetic as far as simple division ! 

The proposition to have a school is made by the parents of 
the children, and when it is ascertained that a sufficient num- 
ber of names can be secured, these are entered on a red card, 
called a school list (kuan-tan). This is generally prepared by 
the time of the winter solstice (December 21st), though some- 
times the matter is left in abeyance until the very end of the 
year, some six weeks later. On the other hand, in some regions, 
it is customary to have the school card ready by the 15th of the 
eighth moon, some time in August or September. The choice 
of a teacher, like many other things Chinese, is very much a 
matter of chance. It seems to be rather uncommon that a 
scholar should teach in his own village, though this does often 
happen. The reason generally given for this is that it is incon- 
venient for the pupils to be too near an ex-preceptor who may 
make demands upon them in later years. Sometimes the same 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 75 

teacher is engaged for a long series of years, while in other 
places there is an annual change. 

Once the pupil's name has been regularly entered upon the 
school list, he must pay the tuition agreed upon, whether he 
ever attends the school or not, no matter what the reason for 
his absence. 

Should serious illness prevent the teacher from beginning his 
duties at all, the engagement is cancelled; but if he enters 
upon them, and is then disabled, the full tuition is exacted 
from every scholar, just as if the engagement had been com- 
pleted. 

The wish of the school patron is to get as much work as he 
can out of the teacher for the money paid him. The endeav- 
our of the teacher is to get as much money as he can, and to 
do as little work as he must. For this reason he is always glad 
to have the names added after the school list has been made 
out, because that will increase his receipts. The patrons fre- 
quently object to this, because they think their own children 
will be neglected, and unless all the patrons consent the addi- 
tion cannot be made. They also dislike to have the teacher 
bring a son or a nephew with him, lest the slender salary should 
be insufficient for the food of both. In that event the master 
might abandon the school before the year is over, as sometimes 
occurs, but such teachers find it difficult to secure another 
school the following year. 

The schoolhouse is an unoccupied room in a private house, 
an ancestral, or other temple, or any other available place bor- 
rowed for the purpose. Renting a place for a school seems to 
be almost or quite unknown. The teacher does his own cook- 
ing, or if he is unequal to this task, he is assisted by one of his 
pjipils, perhaps his own son, whom he often brings with him, 
albeit, as already mentioned, there is classical authority against 
having a son taught by a father. 

The furniture required for each pupil is provided by his 
parents, and consists simply of a table and a stool or bench. 



76 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

The four ''precious articles" required in literature are the ink- 
slab with a little well to hold the water required to rub up the 
ink, the ink-cake, the brush for writing, and paper. 

The Chinese school year is coincident with the calendar 
year, though the school does not begin until after the middle 
of the first moon, some time in February. There is a vacation 
at the wheat harvest in June, and another and longer one at 
the autumnal harvest in September and October. The school 
is furthermore dismissed ten or twenty days before the new 
year. 

Should the master not have been reengaged he is likely to 
do very little teaching during the last moon of the year, as he 
is much more interested in arranging for the future than in 
piecing out the almost dead present. The attendance of the 
scholars, too, is in any case irregular and capricious, amply 
justifying the saying : 

• . '<»J "^ 
" Once entered at the twelfth month's door, 
The teacher rules his boys no more." 

Chinese education is based upon the wisdom of the ancients, 
and of those ancients Confucius is held to be the chief. It is 
natural, therefore, that upon the beginning of a school there 
should be special respect paid to the Great Sage who is re- 
garded as the patron of learning. Usages vary so much that 
no generalizations are ever safe in China, but it is a singular 
fact that instead of the altar, incense, candles, and formal 
prayers to Confucius, which in some parts of the empire are in 
use at the beginning of a year's school, in the province of Con- 
fucius himself the ceremonies are for the most part much 
simpler. At the feast to the teacher by the patrons, the scholars 
are introduced and make two obeisances, one meant for Con- 
fucius, and the other for the present preceptor. In this case 
there is not only no image of the Sage, but no written charac- 
ter to represent him. And even this modest ceremony is far 
from universal. A teacher of twenty-five or thirty years' ex- 




Threshing. 




An Afternoon Siesta. 



yiLLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 77 

perience declared that he had never seen this performed but 
once. 

The scholars in a Chinese school are expected to be on hand 
at an early hour, and by sunrise they are, perhaps, howling 
vigourously away. When it is time for the morning meal they 
return to their homes, and as soon as it is finished, again return. 
About noon they are released for dinner, after which they go 
back as before to school. If the weather is hot, every one else 
— men, women, and children — is indulging in the afternoon 
siesta, but the scholars are in their places as usual, although 
they may be suffered to doze at their desks as well as they can, 
for half the rest of the day. In this way the discipline of the 
school is supposed to be maintained, and some allowance made 
at the same time for poor human nature. Were they allowed 
to take a regular nap at home, the teacher fears with excellent 
reason that he would see no more of them for the day. 

If Chinese pupils are to be pitied in the dog-days, the same 
is even more true of the dead of winter, when the thermometer 
hovers between the freezing-point and zero. The village school 
will very likely have either no fire at all, or only such as is 
made by a pile of kindling or a bundle of stalks lit on the earth 
floor, modifying the temperature but for a few moments, and 
filling the room with acrid smoke for an hour. Even should 
there be a little brazier with a rudimentary charcoal fire, it is 
next to useless, and is mainly for the behoof of the master. 
The pupils will be found (if they can afford such luxuries) en- 
veloped in long winter hoods, sitting all day in a state of semi- 
congelation. 

They generally do not leave the schoolhouse until it is too 
dark to distinguish one character from another. When at 
length the scholars are released, it is not for a healthful walk, 
much less for a romp, but to return to their homes in an orderly 
and becoming manner, like so many grown Confucianists. In 
some schools the scholars are expected to come back in the 
evening to their tasks, as if the long and wearisome day were 



78 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

not sufficient for them, and this is, perhaps, universally the 
case in the advanced schools where composition is studied. 

According to the Chinese theory, the employment of teacher 
is the most honourable possible. Confucius and Mencius, the 
great sages of antiquity, were only teachers. To invite a 
teacher, is compared to the investiture of a general by the 
emperor with supreme command. In consequence of this 
theory, springing directly from the exalted respect for learning 
entertained by the Chinese, a master is allowed almost un- 
limited control. According to a current proverb, the relation 
of teacher and pupil resembles that of father and son, but the 
simile of a general would be a more correct expression of a 
teacher's powers. He is able to declare a sort of martial law, 
and to punish with the greatest rigour. 

One of the earliest lines in the Trimetrical Classic declares 
that ** to rear without instruction, is a father's fault"; *'to 
teach without severity, shows a teacher's indolence." It is 
common for boys to run away, sometimes to great distances, be- 
cause they have been punished at school. The writer was told 
by a man in middle life that when he was a lad he had been 
beaten by a preceptor of the same surname, because that teacher 
had himself been beaten as a child by the pupil's grandfather, 
the grudge being thus carried on to the third generation ! The 
ferule always lies upon the teacher's desk, and serves also as a 
tally. Whenever a scholar goes out, he takes this with him, 
and is supposed to be influenced by the legend upon one side, 
"go out reverentially," and upon the other, "enter respect- 
fully." Two pupils are not allowed to go out at the same 
time. 

The most flagrant offence which a pupil can commit is the 
persistent failure to learn his task within the allotted time. For 
this misdemeanour he is constantly punished, and often to the 
extent of hundreds of blows. Considering how little correc- 
tion is ever administered to Chinese children at home, and how 
slight are the attempts at anything resembling family govern- 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 79 

ment, it is surprising to what extreme lengths teachers are 
allowed to carry discipline. Bad scholars, and stupid ones — 
for a stupid scholar is always considered as a bad one — are not 
infrequently punished every day, and are sometimes covered 
with the marks of their beatings, to an extent which suggests 
rather a runaway slave than a scholar. As the pupil dodges 
about, with the hope of escaping some of the blows, he is not 
unlikely to receive them upon his head, even if they were not 
intended for it. In a case of this sort, a pupil was so much 
injured as to be thrown into fits, and such instances can scarcely 
be uncommon. As a general thing, no further notice appears 
to be taken of the matter by the parent than to see the master 
and ascertain the special occasion of his severity. The family 
of the pupil is naturally anxious that the pupil shall come to 
something, and is ready to assume as an axiomatic truth that 
the only road to any form of success in life is by the acquisi- 
tion of an education. This can be accomplished only by the 
aid of the teacher, and therefore the rules laid down by him 
are to be implicitly followed, at whatever expense to the feelings 
of either father or son. 

In one case within the writer's knowledge, a father was de- 
termined that his son should obtain sufficient education to fit 
him to take charge of a small business. The son, on the other 
hand, was resolved to return to his fork and manure basket, and 
the teacher was invited to further the plans of the boy's father. 
When the time came to begin his education at school, the lad 
absolutely declined to go, and like most Chinese parents in 
similar circumstances, the father was perfectly unable to force 
him to do what he did not wish to do. The only available 
plan was to have the boy tied hand and foot, placed in a basket 
slung to a pole, and carried by two men, like a pig. In this 
condition he was deposited at the schoolhouse, where he was 
chained to two chairs, and not allowed to leave the building. 
He was set the usual task in the Trimetrical Classic, to which, 
however, he paid no attention whatever, although beaten as 



8o VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

often as the teacher could spare the time. The boy not only 
did not study, but he employed all his strength in wailing over 
his hard lot. This state of things continued for several days, 
at the end of which time it was apparent, even to the boy's 
father, that, as the proverb says: ''You cannot help a dead 
dog over a wall ; ' ' and the lad was henceforth suffered to 
betake himself to those agricultural operations for which alone 
he was fitted. 

Different teachers of course differ greatly in their use of pun- 
ishment, but whatever the nature of the severities employed, a 
genuine Confucianist would much rather increase the rigour of 
discipline than relax it. To his mind the method which he 
employs appears to be the only one which is fitted to accomplish 
the end in view. The course of study, the method of study, 
and the capacity of the pupil, are all fixed quantities ; the only 
variable one is the amount of diligence which the scholar can 
be persuaded or driven to put forth. Hence the ideal Chinese 
teacher is sometimes a perfect literary Pharaoh. 

When the little pupil at the age of perhaps seven or eight 
takes his seat in the school for the first time, neither the sound 
nor the meaning of a single character is known to him. The 
teacher reads over the line, and the lad repeats the sounds, con- 
stantly corrected until he can pronounce them properly. He 
thus learns to associate a particular sound with a certain shape. 
A line or two is assigned to each scholar, and after the pro- 
nunciation of the characters has been ascertained, his ''study" 
consists in bellowing the words in as high a key as possible. 
Every Chinese regards this shouting as an indispensable part 
of the child's education. If he is not shouting how can the 
teacher be sure that he is studying ? and as studying and shout- 
ing are the same thing, when he is shouting there is nothing 
more to be desired. Moreover, by this means the master, who 
is supposed to keep track of the babel of sound, is instantly 
able to detect any mispronunciation and correct it in the bud. 
When the scholar can repeat the whole of his task without 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 8i 

missing a single character, his lesson is *' learned," and he then 
stands with his back to the teacher — to make sure that he does 
not see the book — and recites, or << backs," it at railway- 
speed. 

Every educator is aware of the extreme difficulty of prevent- 
ing children from reading the English language with an un- 
natural tone. To prevent the formation of a vicious habit of 
this sort is as difficult as to prevent the growth of weeds, and 
to eradicate such habits once formed is often next to impossible. 
In the case of Chinese pupils, these vices in their most extreme 
form are well-nigh inevitable. The attention of the scholar is 
fixed exclusively upon two things, — the repetition of the char- 
acters in the same order as they occur in the book, and the rep- 
etition of them at the highest attainable rate of speed. Sense 
and expression are not merely ignored, for the words represent 
ideas which have never once dawned upon the Chinese pupil's 
mind. His sole thought is to make a recitation. If he is 
really master of the passage which he recites, he falls at once 
into a loud hum, like that of a peg-top or a buzz, like that of a 
circular saw, and to extract either from the buzz or from the 
hum any sound as of human speech — no matter how familiar 
the auditor may be with the passage recited — is extremely diffi- 
cult and frequently impossible. 

But if the passage has been only imperfectly committed, and 
the pupil is brought to a standstill for the lack of characters to 
repeat, he does not pause to collect his thoughts, for he has no 
thoughts to collect — has in fact no thoughts to speak of. What 
he has, is a dim recollection of certain sounds, and in order 
to recall those which he has forgotten, he keeps on repeating 
the last word, or phrase, or sentence, or page, until association 
regains the missing link. Then he plunges forward again, as 
before. 

Let us suppose, for example, that the words to be recited, are 
the following, from the Confucian Analects, relating to the 
habits of the master : ''He did not partake of wine and dried 



82 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

meat bought in the market. He was never without ginger 
when he ate. He did not eat much." The young scholar, 
whose acquaintance with this chapter is imperfect, nevertheless 
dashes on somewhat as follows : " He did not partake — he did 
not partake — partake — partake — partake — partake of wine and 
dried meat bought in — bought in — bought in the market — 
market — the market — the market. He was never without gin- 
ger — when — ginger — when-ginger — when he ate-he ate-he ate- 
he-ate-ate-he did not eat-eat-eat-eat-eat without ginger when he 
ate-he did not eat-did not eat much." 

This is the method of all Chinese instruction. The con- 
sequence of so much roaring on the part of the scholars is that 
every Chinese school seems to an inexperienced foreigner like a 
bedlam. No foreign child could learn, and no foreign teacher 
could teach, amid such a babel of sound, in which it is impossible 
for the instructor to know whether the pupils are repeating the 
sounds which are given to them, or not. As the effect of the 
unnatural and irrational strain of such incessant screaming upon 
their voices, it is not uncommon to find Chinese scholars who 
are so hoarse that they cannot pronounce a loud word. 

The first little book which the scholar has put into his hands, 
is probably the '^ Trimetrical Classic," (already mentioned) so 
called from its arrangement in double lines of three characters 
above and three below, to a total number of more than i,ooo. 
It was composed eight centuries and a half ago by a preceptor 
for his private school, and perhaps there are few compositions 
which have ever been so thoroughly ground into the mem- 
ory of so many millions of the human race as this. Yet 
of the inconceivable myriads who have studied it, few have had 
the smallest idea by whom it has written, or when. Dr. Wil- 
liams has called attention to the remarkable fact that the very 
opening sentence of this initial text-book in Chinese education, 
contains one of the most disputed doctrines in the ancient 
heathen world : "Men at their birth, are by nature radically 
good ; in their natures they approximate, but in practice differ 



yiLLACE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 8j 

widely." After two lines showing the modifying effects of in- 
struction, and the importance of attention, the mother of 
Mencius is cited as an expert in object lessons for her famous 
son. The student is next reminded that "just was the life of 
Tou, of Yen ; five sons he reared, all famous men." 

The author then reverts to his main theme, and devotes 
several strenuous sentences to emphasizing the necessity for in- 
struction in youth, "since gems unwrought can never be use- 
ful, and untaught persons will never know the proprieties." 
After a further citation of wonderful examples in Chinese his- 
tory, accompanied with due moralizing, there follow more 
than sixty lines of a characteristically Chinese mosaic. The 
little pupil is enlightened on the progressive nature of numbers ; 
the designations of the heavenly bodies ; the " three relations " 
between prince and minister, father and son, man and wife ; 
the four seasons , the four directions ; the five elements ; the 
five cardinal virtues ; the six kinds of grain ; the six domestic 
animals ; the seven passions ; the eight kinds of music ; the 
nine degrees of relationship and the ten moral duties. 

Having swallowed this formidable list of categories, the 
scholar is treated to a general summary of the classical books 
which he is to study as he advances. When he has mastered 
all the works adjudged " Classic," he is told that he must go on 
to those of philosophers and sages, as in the bill of particulars 
contained in the Trimetrical Classic. His special attention is 
invited to history, which suggests a catalogue of the numerous 
Chinese dynastic periods with the names, or rather the styles, 
of a few of the important founders of dynasties. The list is 
brought down to the first emperor of the present dynasty, where 
it abruptly stops at the year 1644. A pupil who wishes to 
know the titles of the later emperors of the Ch'ing Dynasty can 
be accommodated when the same shall have been overthrown, 
and therefore has become a suitable object of historical study. 
The pupil is urged to ponder these records of history till he 
understands things ancient and modern as if they were before 



84 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

his eyes, and to make them his morning study and his evening 
task. 

The concluding section contains more of human interest 
than any of the preceding parts, since we are told that the great 
Confucius once learned something from a mere child ; that the 
ancient students had no books, but copied their lessons on 
reeds and slips of bamboo ; that to vanquish the body they 
hung themselves by the hair from a beam, or drove an awl into 
the thigh ; that one read by the light of glow-worms, and that 
another tied his book to a cow's horn. Among the prodigies 
of diligence were two, who, ** though girls, were intelligent and 
well informed." The closing lines strive to stimulate the am- 
bition of the beginner, not only by the tales of antiquity, but 
by the faithfulness of the dog at night, and the diligence of the 
silk-worm and the bee. *' If men neglect to learn, they are in- 
ferior to insects." But *' he who learns in youth, and acts when 
of mature age, extends his influence to the prince, benefits the 
people, makes his name renowned, renders illustrious his 
parents, reflects glory upon his ancestors and enriches his pos- 
terity." If every Chinese lad does not eventually become a 
prodigy of learning, it is certainly not the fault of the author of 
this remarkable compendium, the incalculable influence of 
which must be the justification of so extended a synopsis. 

Another little book, to which the Chinese pupil is early intro- 
duced, is the list of Chinese surnames, more than 400 in num- 
ber, and all to be learned by a dead lift of memory. The 
characters are arranged in quartettes, and when a Chinese 
tells another his own surname, it is common to repeat all four, 
whereupon his auditor recalls which of the several names 
having the same sound it may be. In some parts of the em- 
pire the *' Thousand Character Classic" follows the Tri- 
metrical Classic, while in other parts its use seems to be quite 
unknown. It comprises, as the name implies, a thousand char- 
acters, not one of which is repeated. It is common to use 
these characters instead of ordinal numbers to designate seats 



yiLLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 85 

in the examination halls, so that it is desirable that scholars 
should be familiar with the book. 

After the scholar has mastered the smaller ones, he passes on 
to the ''Four Books," the Confucian Analects, the Great 
Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the works of 
Mencius. The order in which these books are taken up varies 
in different places, but, as already observed, the method of 
study is as nearly as possible invariable. Book after book is 
stored away in the abdomen (in which the intellectual faculties 
are supposed to be situated), and if the pupil is furnished with 
the clew of half a sentence, he can unravel from memory, as 
required, yards, rods, furlongs or miles of learning. 

After the Four Books, follow in varying order the Poetical 
Classic, the Book of History, the Book of Changes, and the 
historical work of Confucius, known as the Spring and Au- 
tumn Annals. To commit to memory all these volumes, must 
in any case be the labour of many years. Usage varies in dif- 
ferent localities, but it is very common to find scholars who 
have memorized the whole of the Four Books, and perhaps two 
of the later Classics — the Odes and the History — before they 
have heard any explanations even of the Trimetrical Classic, 
with which their education began. During all these years, the 
pupil has been in a condition of mental daze, which is denoted 
by a Chinese character, the component parts of which signify a 
pig in the weeds (meng). His entrance upon study is called 
"lifting the darkness" (ch'i meng), and to teach the beginner 
is to "instruct darkness." These expressive phrases corre- 
spond to a fixed reality. Of those who have committed to 
memory all the books named, some of the brightest have no 
doubt picked up here and there, and as it were by accident, an 
idea. 

Thoughtful Chinese teachers, familiar with the capacity of 
their pupils, estimate that the most intelligent among them can 
not be expected to understand a hundredth part of what they 
have memorized. The great majority of them have about as 



86 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

accurate a conception of the territory traversed, as a boy might 
entertain of a mountainous district through which he had been 
compelled to run barefooted and blindfolded in a dense fog, 
chased for vast distances by a man cracking over his head a 
long ox-whip. How very little many scholars do grasp of the 
real meaning, even after explanations which the teacher regards 
as abundantly full, is demonstrated by a test to which here and 
there a master subjects his scholars, that of requiring them to 
write down a passage. The result is frequently the notation of 
so many false characters as to render it evident, not only that 
the explanations have not been apprehended, but that notwith- 
standing such a multitude of perusals, the text itself has been 
taken only into the ear as so many sounds, and has not entered 
the mind at all. 

The system of explanations adopted by Chinese teachers, as 
a rule, is almost the exact opposite of that which, to an Occi- 
dental, would seem rational. **In speech," said Confucius, 
" one should be intelligible, and that is the end of it." The 
Confucian teacher, however, is often very far indeed from feel- 
ing that it is necessary to be intelligible — that is to say, to make 
it absolutely certain that his pupils have fully comprehended 
his meaning. He is very apt to deliver his explanations — when 
a sufficient number of years has elapsed to make it seem worth 
while to begin them at all — ex cathedra^ and in a stately, formal 
manner, his attention being much more fixed upon the exhibi- 
tion of his own skill in displaying his own knowledge, than 
upon imparting that knowledge to his scholars. It is common 
to hear it said of a teacher who has attained distinction, that 
when he opens his mouth to explain the Classics, "every sen- 
tence is fit for an examination essay." This is considered to 
"be the acme of praise. Sentences which are suited to be con- 
stituent parts of examination essays, are not, it is superfluous to 
remark, particularly adapted to the comprehension of young 
schoolboys, who know nothing about examination essays, the 
style of which is utterly beyond their powers. 



TILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 87 

The commentary upon the Classics written by Chu Hsi, in the 
twelfth century, a. d., has come to have an authority second only 
to that of the text itself. That no Chinese school-teacher leads 
his pupils to question for an instant whether the explanation is 
accurate and adequate, is a matter of course. The whole 
object of a teacher's work is to fit his pupils to compete at the 
examinations, and to prepare essays which shall win the ap- 
proval of the examiners, thus leading to the rank of literary 
graduate. This result would be possible only to those who ac- 
cept the orthodox interpretation of the Classics, and hence it is 
easy to see that Chinese schools are not likely to become nur- 
series of heresy. The very idea of discussing with his pupils 
either text or commentary, does not so much as enter the mind 
of a Chinese schoolmaster. He could not do so if he would, 
and he would not if he could. 

The task of learning to write Chinese characters is a very 
serious one, in comparison with which it is scarcely unfair to 
characterize the mastery of the art of writing any European 
language, as a mere pastime. The correct notation of char- 
acters is, moreover, not less important than the correct recog- 
nition of them, for success in some of the examinations is made 
to depend as much upon caligraphy as upon style. 

The characters which the teacher selects for the writing ex- 
ercises of his pupils, have no relation, strange as it may seem, 
to anything which he is studying. These characters may at 
first be taken from little books of rhymes arranged for the pur- 
pose, containing characters at once simple and common. 

The next step is to change to books containing selections 
from the T'ang Dynasty poets, an appreciation of which in- 
volves acquaintance with tones and rhyme, of which the pupil, 
as yet, knows nothing. The characters which he now learns to 
write he has very likely never seen before, and they do not at 
all assist his other studies. The only item of which notice is 
taken, is whether the characters are well or ill-formed. Review 
there is none. 



88 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

The reason for choosing T'ang Dynasty poetry for writing 
lessons, instead of characters or sentences which are a part of 
the current lesson, is that it is customary to use the poetry, and 
is not customary to use anything else, and that to do so would 
expose himself to ridicule. Besides this, poetry makes com- 
plete sense by itself (if the pupil could only comprehend it) 
while isolated characters do not. The consequence of this 
method of instruction is that hundreds of thousands of pupils 
leave school knowing very little about characters, and much of 
what they do know is wrong. The method of teaching char- 
acters explains in part what seems at first almost unaccountable, 
that so few ordinary persons know characters accurately. It is 
an inevitable incident of the system, that to write some of the 
commonest characters, referring to objects used in daily life, is 
quite beyond the power of a man who has been for years at 
school, for he has never seen them either written or printed. 
Thus in taking an inventory of household property, there is not 
one chance in ten that the characters will be written correctly, 
for they do not occur in the Classics, nor in T'ang D3aiasty 
poetry. Not only so, but it is altogether probable that an 
average graduate of the village school cannot indite a common 
letter, or set down a page of any miscellaneous characters, 
without writing something wrong. 

If the teacher is a man of any reputation, he has a multitude 
of acquaintances, fellow students, any of whom may happen to 
call upon him at the schoolhouse, where he lives. Chinese 
etiquette requires that certain attentions should be paid to 
visitors of this sort, and while it is perfectly understood that 
school routine ought not to be broken in upon by unnecessary 
interruptions, as. a matter of fact in most schools these inter- 
ruptions are a serious nuisance, to which the teacher often can- 
not and oftener will not put a stop. 

The system here described, by which the whole time of the 
master is supposed to be devoted to instructing his pupils, 
makes no allowances for any absences whatever. Yet there are 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 89 

few human beings blessed with such perfect health, and having 
such an entire freedom from all relations to the external world, 
as to be able to conduct a school of this kind month after 
month, with no interruptions. 

It frequently happens that the teacher is himself one of the 
literary army who attends the examinations in hope of a degree. 
If this is the case, his absences for this purpose will often prove 
a serious interruption to the routine of the school. Some pa- 
trons appear to consider that this disadvantage is balanced by 
the glory which would accrue to their school in case its master 
were to take his degree while in their service. Moreover, aside 
from the regular vacations at the feast times and harvests, every 
teacher is sure to be called home from time to time by some 
emergency in his own family, or in his village, or among his 
numerous friends. Under these circumstances he provides a 
substitute if he happens to find it convenient to do so. Such 
are nicknamed ''remote-cousin-preceptors" {su-pailao-shih)y 
and are not likely to be treated with much respect. When the 
teacher is absent for a day, instead of dismissing the school, 
he perhaps leaves it theoretically in the charge of one of the 
older scholars. The inevitable consequence is, that at such 
times the work of the school is reduced not merely to zero, but 
to forty degrees below zero. The scholars simply bar the front 
door, and amuse themselves in using the teacher's ferule for a 
bat, and the Trimetrical Classic, or the Confucian Analects, for 
a ball. The demoralization attending such lawlessness is 
evidently most injurious to the efficiency of the school. 

The irregularities of the master's attendance are more than 
matched by those of his scholars. The pressure of domestic 
duties is such that many poorer families on one pretence or 
another are constantly taking their children out of school. 
To-day the pupil must rake up fuel, next week he must lead 
the animal that draws the seed drill, a month later he is taken 
for two or three days to visit some relatives. Not long after 
there is in the village, or perhaps in some neighbouring vil- 



90 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

lage, a theatrical entertainment, but in either case the whole 
school expects a vacation to go and see the sport. As al- 
ready remarked when describing theatricals, if this vacation 
were denied they would take it themselves. Besides interrup- 
tions of this sort, there are the spring and autumn harvests, 
when the school is dismissed for two months and perhaps for 
three, and the New Year vacation, which lasts from the mid- 
dle of the twelfth moon to the latter part of the first moon. 
But, extensive as are these intermissions of study, the dog-days 
are not among them, and the poor pupils go droning on 
through all the heat of summer. 

As the Chinese child has no Saturdays, no Sundays, no re- 
cesses, no variety of study, and no promotion from grade to 
grade, nor from one school to another, it is probable that he 
has enough schooling such as it is. As every scholar is a class 
by himself, the absence of one does not interfere with the study 
of another. Even if two lads happen to be reciting in the 
same place, they have no more connection with each other than 
any other two pupils. Of such a thing as classification the 
teacher has never heard, and the irregular attendance of the 
scholars would, he tells you, prevent it, even were it otherwise 
possible. Owing to the time required to hear so many recita- 
tions, an ordinary school does not contain more than eight or 
ten pupils, and twenty are regarded as beyond one teacher's 
capacity. 

There is very little which is really intellectual in any part of 
the early schooling of an ordinary Chinese boy. As a rule, the 
teacher does not concern himself with his pupils further than to 
drag them over a specified course, or at least to attempt to do 
so. The parents of the lad are equally indifferent, or even 
more so. If the father himself can read, he remembers that he 
learned to do so by a long and thorny road, and he thinks it 
proper that his son should traverse it likewise. If the father 
can not read, he at least recognizes the fact that he knows 
nothing at all about the matter, and that it is not /lis business 



TILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 91 

to interfere. The teacher is hired to teach — let him do it. As 
for visiting the school to see what progress his son is making, 
he never heard of such a thing, and he would not do it if he 
had heard of it. The teacher would say in his manner if not 
in his words, '* What business have you here ? " 

A sufficient reason for spending all his time in the school- 
room is the fact that it is practically impossible for a Chinese 
child to do any studying amid the distractions of a Chinese 
household. Even for adult scholars it is almost always difficult 
to do so. At his home the pupil has no mental stimulus of any 
sort, no books, magazines or papers, and even if he had them, 
his barren studies at school would not have fitted him to com- 
prehend such literature. 

/The object of Chinese education is to pump up the wisdom 
of the ancients into the minds of the modems. > In order to do 
this, however, it is necessary to keep the stream in a constant 
flow, at whatever cost, else much of the preceding labour is lost. 
According to Chinese theory, or practice, a school which should 
only be in session for six months of the year, would be a gross 
absurdity. The moment a child fails to attend school, he is 
supposed (and with reason) to become **wild." 

The territory to be traversed is so vast that the most unre- 
mitting diligence is absolutely indispensable. This continues 
true, however advanced the pupil may be ; as witness the pop- 
ular saying, "Ten years a graduate (without studying), and 
one is a nobody." The same saying is current in regard to 
the second degree, and with not less reason. 

The necessity of confining one's attention to study alone, 
leads to the selection of one or more of the sons of a family as 
the recipient of an education. The one who is chosen is 
clothed in the best style which his family circumstances will 
allow, his little cue neatly tied with a red string, and he is pro- 
vided, as we have seen, with a copy of the Hundred Surnames and 
of the Trimetrical Classic. This young Confucianist is the bud 
and prototype of the adult scholar. His twin brother, who has 



92 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

not been chosen to this high calling, roams about the village all 
summer in the costume of the garden of Eden, gathering fuel, 
swimming in the village mud-hole, busy when he must be busy, 
idle when he can be idle. He may be incomparably more use- 
ful to his family than the other, but so far as education goes 
he is only a '* wild " lad. 

If the student is quick and bright, and gives good promise 
of distinguishing himself, he stands an excellent chance of 
being spoiled by thoughtless praises. "That boy," remarks a 
bystander to a stranger, and in the lad's hearing, *'is only 
thirteen years old, but he has read all the Four Books, and all 
of the Book of Poetry, etc. By the time he is twenty, he is 
sure to become a graduate." When questioned as to his at- 
tainments, the lad replies without any of that pertness and for- 
wardness which too often characterize Western youth, but, as 
he has been taught to do, in a bashful and modest manner, and 
in a way to win at once the good opinion of the stranger. His 
manner leaves nothing to be desired, but in reality he is the 
victim of the most dangerous of all flatteries, the inferiority of 
what is around him. In order to hold his relative position, it 
is necessary, as already pointed out, to bestow the most un- 
wearied attention on his books. His brothers are all day in the 
fields, or learning a trade, or are assistants to some one en- 
gaged in business, as the case may be, but he is doing nothing, 
absolutely and literally nothing, but study. 

So much confinement, and such close application from the 
very earliest years, can scarcely fail to show their effects in his 
physical constitution. His brother hoes the ground, bare- 
headed throughout the blistering heats of July, but such ex- 
posure to the sun would soon give him the headache. His 
brother works with more or less energy all day long (with in- 
termittent sequence), but were he compelled to do the same 
the result would not improbably be that he would soon begin 
to spit blood. That he is physically by no means so strong as 
he once was, is undeniable. He has very little opportunity to 



yiLLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 93 

learn anything of practical affairs, and still less disposition. 
The fact that a student has no time to devote to ordinary af- 
fairs is not so much the reason of his ignorance, as is the fact that 
for him to do common things is not respectable. Among the 
four classes of mankind, scholars rank first, farmers, labourers, 
and merchants being at a great remove. 

The two things that a pupil is sure to learn in a Chinese 
school are obedience, and the habit of concentrating his atten- 
tion upon whatever he is reading, to the entire disregard of 
surrounding distractions. So far as they go these are valuable 
acquirements, although they can scarcely be termed an educa- 
tion. 

Every pupil is naturally anxious to get into the class of 
scholars, and this he does as soon as he gives all his time to 
study ; for whether he is a real scholar or not, he plainly be- 
longs to neither of the other classes. We are told in the Con- 
fucian Analects that the master said, "The accomplished 
scholar is not a utensil." The commentators tell us that this 
means that whereas a utensil can only be put to one use, the 
accomplished scholar can be used in all varieties of ways, ad 
omnia paratus, as Dr. Legge paraphrases it. This expression 
is sometimes quoted in banter, as if in excuse for the general 
incapacity of the Chinese literary man — he is not a utensil. 
The scholar, even the village scholar, not only does not plow 
and reap, but he does not in any way assist those who perform 
these necessary acts. He does not harness an animal, nor feed 
him, nor drive a cart, nor light a fire, nor bring water — in 
short, so far as physical exertion goes, he does as nearly as pos- 
sible nothing at all. " The scholar is not a utensil," he seems 
to be thinking all day long, and every day of his life, until one 
wishes that at times he would be a utensil, that he might some- 
times be of use. He will not even move a bench, nor make 
any motion that looks like labour. Almost the only exception 
to this general incapacity, is an exception for which we should 
hardly be prepared ; it is a knowledge, in many cases of the art 



94 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

of cooking, in so far as it is necessary for the practice of the 
scholar, who often teaches in a village other than his home, 
where he generally lives by himself in the schoolhouse. 

We have already alluded to the great oversupply of teachers 
of schools. Many of them, owing to their lack of adaptation 
to their environment, are chronically on the verge of starvation. 
It is a venerable maxim that poverty and pride go side by side, 
and nowhere does this saying find more forcible exemplification 
than in the case of a poor Chinese scholar. He has nothing, he 
can do nothing, and in most cases he is unwilling to do any- 
thing. In short, viewed from the standpoint of political econ- 
omy, he is good for nothing. 

One specimen of this class the writer once saw, who had 
been set at work by a benevolent foreigner molding coal balls, 
an employment which doubtless appeared to him and to the 
spectators as the substantial equivalent of the chain-gang, and 
yet, to the surprise of his employer, he accepted it rather than 
starve. A certain scholar of this description was so poor that 
he was obliged to send his family back to her mother's house, 
to save them from starvation. The wife, being a skillful needle- 
woman, was employed at good wages in a foreign family, but 
when her husband heard of it he was very angry, not because 
he was unwilling to have her associate with foreigners, who he 
was kind enough to say were very respectable, but because it 
was very unsuitable that she, the wife of a scholar, should 
work for hire ! The wife had the sense and spirit to reply 
that, if these were his views, it might be well for him to pro- 
vide his family with something to eat, to which he replied with 
the characteristic and ultimate argument for refractory wives, 
namely, a sound beating ! 

When one of these helpless and impecunious scholars calls 
upon a foreigner whom he has met only once, or perhaps never 
even seen, he will not improbably begin by quoting a wilder- 
ness of classical learning to display his great — albeit unrecog- 
nized — abilities. He tells you that among the five relations of 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 95 

prince and minister, husband and wife, father and son, 
brother to brother, and friend to friend, his relationship to you 
is of the latter type. That it would do violence to his concep- 
tion of the duties of this relation, if he did not let you know 
of his exigencies. He shows you his thin trousers and other 
garments concealed under his scholar's long gown, and frankly 
volunteers that any contribution, large or small, prompted by 
such friendship as ours to him will be most acceptable. 

While the conditions of the life of the village scholar are 
thus unfavourable for his success in earning a living, they are 
not more favourable to his own intellectual development. The 
chief, if not the exclusive sources of his mental alimentation 
have been the Chinese Classics. These are in many respects 
remarkable products of the human mind. Their negative ex- 
cellencies, in the absence of anything calculated to corrupt the 
morals, are great. To the lofty standard of morality which 
they fix, may be ascribed in great measure their unbounded 
and perennial influence, an influence which has no doubt 
powerfully tended to the preservation of the empire. Apart 
from the incalculable influence which they have exerted on the 
countless millions of China for many ages, there are many pas- 
sages which in and of themselves are remarkable. 

But taken as a whole, the most friendly critic finds it impos- 
sible to avoid the conviction, which forces itself upon him at 
every page, that regarded as the sole text-books for a great 
nation they are fatally defective. They are too desultory, and 
too limited in their range. Epigrammatic moral maxims, 
scraps of biography, nodules of a sort of political economy, 
bits of history, rules of etiquette, and a great variety of other 
subjects, are commingled without plan, symmetry, or progress 
of thought. The chief defects, as already suggested, are the 
triviality of many of the subjects, the limitation in range, and 
the inadequacy of treatment. When the Confucian Analects 
are compared, for example, with the Memorabilia of Xene- 
phon, when the Doctrine of the Mean is placed by the side of 



96 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the writings of Aristotle and Plato, and the bald notation of 
the Spring and Autumn Annals by the side of the history of 
Thucydides, when the Book of Odes is contrasted with the 
Iliad, the Odyssey, or even the ^neid, it is impossible not to 
marvel at the measure of success which has attended the use of 
such materials in China. 

Considering what, in spite of their defects, the Classics have 
done for China, it is not surprising that they have come to be 
regarded with a bibliolatry to which the history of mankind 
affords few parallels. It is extremely difficult for us to compre- 
hend the effect of a narrow range of studies on the mind, be- 
cause our experience furnishes no instance to which the case of 
the Chinese can be compared. Let us for a moment imagine a 
Western scholar, who had enjoyed a profound mathematical 
education, and no other education whatever. Every one would 
consider such a mind ill-balanced. Yet much of the ill effect 
of such a narrow education would be counteracted. Mathe- 
matical certainty is infallible certainty ; mathematics leads up 
to astronomy, and a thorough acquaintance with astronomy is 
of itself a liberal education. Besides this, no man in Western 
lands can fail to come into vital contact with other minds. 
And there is what Goethe called the Zeit-geist, or Spirit of the 
Age, which exerts a powerful influence upon him. But in 
China, a man who is educated in a narrow line, is likely, 
though by no means certain, to remain narrow, and there is no 
Chinese Zeit-geist, or if there is, like other ghosts, it seldom in- 
terposes in human affairs. 

The average Chinese scholar is at a great disadvantage in the 
lack of the apparatus for study. In a Western land, any man 
with the slightest claim to be called a scholar, would be able to 
answer in a short time, a vast range of questions, with intelli- 
gent accuracy. This he would do, not so much by means of 
his own miscellaneous information, as by his books of refer- 
ence. The various theories as to the location of the Garden 
of Eden, the dimensions of the Great Pyramid, the prob- 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 97 

able authorship of the Junius Letters, the highest latitude 
reached in polar exploration, the names of the generals who 
conducted the fourth Peloponnesian war — all these, and thou- 
sands of similar matters, could be at once elucidated by means 
of a dictionary of antiquities, a manual of ancient or modern 
history, a biographical dictionary, and an encyclopedia. To 
the ordinary Chinese scholar, such helps as these are entirely 
wanting. He owns very few books ; for in the country where 
printing was invented, books are the luxury of the rich. 

The standard dictionary of Chinese, is that compiled two 
centuries "ago in the K'ang Hsi period, and is alleged to con- 
tain 44,449 characters, but of these an immense number are 
obsolete and synonomous, and only serve the purpose of be- 
wildering the student. Within the past two generations the 
Chinese language has undergone a remarkable development, 
owing to the contact of China with her neighbours. All the 
modern sciences have obtruded themselves, but there is no in- 
terest in the coordination of these new increments to their lan- 
guage on the part of Chinese scholars, to whom K'ang Hsi's 
lexicon is amply sufficient. 

In order to attain success in Chinese composition, it is neces- 
sary to be acquainted with the force of every character, as a 
means to which, access to this standard dictionary, would seem 
to be indispensable. Yet, though invaluable, it is not in the 
possession of one scholar in fifty. Its place is generally taken 
by a small compendium, analogous to what we should call a 
pocket-manual, in which the characters are arranged according 
to the sound, and not according to the radicals, as in K'ang 
Hsi. 

Pupils are seldom taught the 214 radicals, and many per- 
sons who have spent years at school have no idea how to use 
K'ang Hsi's dictionary, when it is put into their hands. 
Within a circle of eight or ten villages, there may be only a 
single copy, and if it is necessary to obtain more accurate in- 
formation than is to be had in the pocket-dictionary, the in- 



98 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

quirer must go to the village where there is a copy of K'ang 
Hsi, and *' borrow light" there. 

But such an extreme measure is seldom considered necessary. 
The incessant study of the Classics has made all the characters 
in them familiar. Those who write essays can compose them 
with the aid of these characters only, and as for miscellaneous 
characters — that is, those not found in the Classics — why should 
one care for ^/lem ? A good edition of K'ang Hsi, with clear 
type and no false characters, might cost, if new, as much as 
the village schoolmaster would receive for his whole year's 
work. 

At examinations below that for the second degree, a knowl- 
edge of history is said to be as superfluous as an acquaintance 
with the dictionary. Nine out of ten candidates at the lower 
examinations know little of the history of China, except what 
they have learned from the Trimetrical Classic, or picked up 
from the classics. The perusal of compendiums of history, 
even if such are available, is the employment of leisure, and 
the composition of essays as a business once entered upon, 
there is no leisure. 

One occasionally meets a teacher who has made a specialty 
of history, but these men are rare. Historical allusions often 
lie afloat in the minds of Chinese scholars, like snatches of 
poetry, the origin and connection of which are unknown. 
Many scholars who have the knack of picking up and appro- 
priating such spiculae of knowledge, acquire the art of dex- 
trously weaving them into examination essays and owe their 
success to this circumstance alone, whereas if they were ex- 
amined upon the historical connection of the incidents which 
they have thus cited, they would be unable to reply. But as 
long as the use of such allusions in essays is felicitous, no ques- 
tions are asked, and the desired end is attained. "The Cat 
that catches the Rat is a good Cat," says the adage, and it is 
no matter if the Cat is blind, and the Rat is a dead one ! 

The Peking Gazette occasionally contains memorials from offi- 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 99 

cers asking that certain sums be set apart for the maintenance 
of a library in some central city, to aid poor students in the 
prosecution of their studies. If there were libraries on a large 
scale in every district city, they would be valuable and much- 
needed helps. But so far as appears, for all practical purposes, 
they scarcely exist at all. 

The Chinese method of writing history, is what Sydney Smith 
called the antediluvian, that, namely, in which the writer pro- 
ceeds upon the hypothesis that the life of the reader is to be as 
long as that of Methuselah. Projected upon this tremendous 
plan, the standard histories are not only libraries in size, but 
are enormously expensive in price. In a certain District (or 
County) it is a well-known fact that there is only one such his- 
tory, which belongs to a wealthy family, and which one could 
no more <* borrow," than he could borrow the family grave- 
yard, and which even if it could be borrowed would prove to 
be a wilderness of learning. It is indeed a proverb, that ** He 
that would know things ancient and modern, must peruse five 
cartloads of books." 

But even after this labour, his range of learning, gauged by 
Occidental standards, would be found singularly inadequate. 
According to Chinese ideas, the history of the reigning dy- 
nasty is not a proper object of knowledge, and histories gener- 
ally end at the close of the Ming Dynasty, about 250 years 
ago. If any one has a curiosity to learn of what has happened 
since that time, he can be gratified by waiting a few decades 
or centuries, when the dynasty shall have changed, and the 
records of the Great Pure Dynasty can be impartially written. 
Imagine a History of England which should call a halt at the 
House of Hanover ! 

The result of the various causes here indicated, combined 
with the grave defects in the system of education, is that mul- 
titudes of Chinese scholars know next to nothing about matters 
directly in the line of their studies, and in regard to which we 
should consider ignorance positively disgraceful. A venerable 



lOO VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

teacher remarked to the writer with a charming naivete that he 
had never understood the allusions in the Trimetrical Classic 
(which stands at the very threshold of Chinese study), until at 
the age of sixty he had an opportunity to read a Universal 
History, prepared by a missionary, in which for the first time 
Chinese history was made accessible to him. 

The encyclopedias and works of reference, which the Chinese 
have compiled in overwhelming abundance, are as useless to 
the common scholar as the hieroglyphics of Egypt. He never 
saw these works, and he has never heard of them. The infor- 
mation condensed into a small volume like Mayers' Chinese 
Reader's Manual, could not be drawn from a whole platoon of 
ordinary scholars. Knowledge of this sort the scholar must 
pick up as he goes along, remembering everything that he reads 
or hears; and much of it will be derived from cheap little 
books, badly printed, and full of false characters, prepared on 
no assignable plan, and covering no definite ground. 

The cost of Chinese books being practically prohibitory to 
teachers who are poor, they are sometimes driven to copy them, 
as was the habit of the monks in the middle ages. The writer 
is well acquainted with a schoolmaster who spent the spare time 
of several years in copying a work in eight octavo volumes, in- 
volving the notation of somewhere between 50,00c and 100,000 
characters, to the great injury of his health and of his eye- 
sight. 

The whole plan of Chinese study has been aptly called intel- 
lectual infanticide. The outcome of it is that it is quite pos- 
sible that the village scholar who has the entire Classics at his 
tongue's end, who has been examined before the Literary Chan- 
cellor more times than he can remember, may not know fact 
from fiction, nor history from mythology. He is, perhaps, not 
certain whether a particular historical character lived in the 
Han Dynasty or in the Ming Dynasty, though the discrepancy 
involves a matter of 1,000 or 1,200 years. He does not pro- 
fess to be positive whether a given name represents a real per- 



yiLLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS loi 

son, or whether it may not perhaps have been merely one of 
the dramatis personae of a theatrical play. 

He cannot name the governors or governors-general of three 
out of the eighteen provinces, nor does he know the capitals 
of a third of those provinces. It is enough for him that any 
particular place in China, the location of which he is ignorant 
of, is *' south-side." He never studied any geography ancient 
or modern, he never saw an ancient atlas nor a modern map of 
China — never in fact heard of one. 

An acquaintance of the writer's, who was a pupil in a mis- 
sion school, sent to a reading man of his village a copy of a 
Universal Geography in the Mandarin Colloquial, the explana- 
tions of which would seem to render mistake as to its purport 
almost impossible. Yet the recipient of the work, after pro- 
tracted study of it, could make nothing whatever of the vol- 
ume, and called to his aid two friends, one of whom was a 
literary graduate, and all three of them puzzled over the maps 
and text for three days, at the end of which time they all gave 
the matter up as an insoluble riddle, and determined in des- 
pair to await the return of the donor of the book, to explain 
what it was about ! 

This trait of intellectual obtuseness, is far enough from being 
exceptional in Chinese scholars. With a certain class of them, 
a class easily recognized, it is the rule, and it is a natural out- 
come of the mode and process of their education. Although 
the education of a Chinese scholar is almost exclusively de- 
voted to acquiring facility of composition, it is composition of 
one variety only, the examination essay. Outside of examina- 
tion halls, however, the examination essay, even in China, plays 
a comparatively small part, and a person whose sole forte is the 
production of such essays often shows to very little advantage 
in any other line of business. He cannot write a letter without 
allowing the *' seven empty particles" to tyrannize over his 
pen. He employs a variety of set forms, such as that he has 
received your epistle and respectfully bathed himself before he 



I02 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

ventured to open it (a very exaggerated instance of hyperbole), 
but he very likely neglects to inform you from what place he is 
writing and if he is reporting, for example, a lawsuit, he prob- 
ably omits altogether several items of vital importance to a 
correct comprehension of the case. In a majority of instances 
he is miserably poor, often has no employment whatever, and 
no prospect of obtaining any. If he becomes acquainted with 
a foreigner, you are aware, before he has made three calls, that 
he is in quest of a situation. You inquire what he can do, 
and with a pathetic simplicity he assures you that he can do 
some things, and is really not a useless person. He can in- 
deed, write from a copy, or from dictation if an eye be con- 
stantly kept upon him to prevent the notation of wrong char- 
acters. But it will not be surprising if his employer finds that 
at whatever task he is set, he either does it ill, or cannot do it 
at all. 

There are several criticisms which the average Occidental is 
sure to make on the average Chinese schoolmaster. ^He always 
lacks initiative and will seldom do anything without explicit 
directions. He is also painfully deficient in finality, especi- 
ally in the statement of his own afi"airs, often consuming an 
hour wheeling in concentric circles about a point to which he 
should have come in three minutes — that is, had he been con- 
structed intellectually as most Westerners are.") Yet he has un- 
doubted intellectual abilities, not frequently surprising one by 
the keenness and justice of his criticisms and comments. But 
his mind has been trained for one line of work, and often for 
that alone. Every one knows that the minds of the Chinese are 
not by nature analytic ; neither are they synthetic. They may 
suppose themselves to have the clearest perception of the way 
in which a statement ought to be made, but a whole platoon of 
teachers will not seldom spend several days in working over 
and over an epitome of some matter of business which happens 
to be somewhat complicated, and after all with results unsatis- 
factory to themselves, and still more so to the Occidental who 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 103 

fails to understand why it could not have been finished in two 
hours. The same phenomenon is often witnessed in their 
efforts to assimilate unfamiliar works which are not geographical. 
If a reading man is invited to peruse one and make an abstract 
of it, he generally declines, remarking that he does not know 
how, a proposition which he can speedily prove with a certainty 
equal to any demonstration in Euclid. 

.The inborn conservatism of the Chinese race is exhibited in 
the average literary man, whatever the degree of his attain- 
ments. To change his accustomed way of doing anything is to 
give his intellectual faculties a wrench akin to physical disloca- 
tion of a hip-bone. Chinese writing is in perpendicular 
columns, and if horizontal reads from right to left — the reverse 
of English. A fossilized Chinese whom the writer set to not- 
ing down sentences in a ruled foreign blank-book could not be 
induced to follow the lines as directed, but wished to make 
columns to which he was used. When the foreign way was in- 
sisted upon, he simply turned the book partly around and 
wrote on the lines perpendicularly as before ! He would not 
be a party to violent rearrangement of the ancient symbols of 
thought. Such a man's mind resembles an obsolete high bicycle 
— very good if one but knows how to work it, but not quite safe 
for any others. There is another similarity likewise in the cir- 
cumstance that many Chinese who have some degree of scholar- 
ship are not expecting to employ their intellectual faculties ex- 
cept when they happen to be called for. One is often told by 
Chinese who have gone from home for some considerable time, 
that he cannot read something which has been offered to him, 
as he has left his glasses at home, not supposing that he should 
have any use for them. A greater intellectual contrast be- 
tween the East and the West it might not be easy to name. 

To almost all Chinese the form of a written character ap- 
pears to be of indefinitely greater importance than its meaning. 
Those who are learning to read, or who can read only imper- 
fectly, are generally so completely absorbed in the mere enun- 



lo4 WILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

ciation of a character, that they will not and probably cannot pay 
the smallest attention to any explanation as to its purport, the 
consideration of which appears to be regarded as of no con- 
sequence whatever, if not an interruption. But the scholar and 
the new beginner have this admirable talent in common, that 
they are almost always able completely to abstract themselves 
from their surroundings, disregarding all distractions. This 
valuable faculty, as already remarked and a phenomenally de- 
veloped verbal memory are perhaps the most enviable results 
of the educational process which we are describing. As an 
excellent example, however, of the degree to v/hich verbal 
memory extinguishes the judgment, may be mentioned a coun- 
try schoolmaster (a literary graduate) whom the writer inter- 
viewed in a dispensary waiting-room as to the respective deserts 
of Chou, the tyrant whose crimes put an end to the Ancient 
Shang Dynasty, and Pi Kan, a relative whom Chou ordered 
disemboweled in mere wantonness in order to see if a Sage 
really has seven openings in his heart. The teacher recollected 
the incident perfectly, and cited a passage from the Classics 
referring to it, but declined to express any judgment on the 
merits of these men as he had forgotten what '' the small char- 
acters " (the commentary) said about them ! 

We have already adverted to some of the principal defects in 
the routine of Chinese schools, but there is another which 
should not be omitted. 'There is scarcely a man, woman or 
child in China, who will not spend a considerable fraction of 
life in handling brass cash, in larger or smaller quantities. It 
is a matter of great importance to each individual, to be able 
to reckon, if not rapidly, at least correctly, so as to save 
trouble, and what is to them of far more importance, money, j 
It seems almost incredible that for instruction in this most neces- 
sary of arts, there is no provision whatever. To add, to sub- 
tract, to divide, to multiply, to know what to do with decimal 
fractions, these are daily necessities of every one in China, and 
yet these are things that no one teaches. Such processes, like 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 105 

the art of bookkeeping in Western lands fifty years ago, must 
be learned by practical experience in shops and places of busi- 
ness. The village schoolmaster not only does not teach the use 
of the abacus, or reckoning board, but it is by no means cer- 
tain that he understands it himself. Imagine a place in Eng- 
land or in the United States where the schoolboy is taught 
nothing of the rules of arithmetic at school, and where he is 
obliged, if he desires such knowledge, to learn the simple rules 
of addition, etc., from one person, those for compound num- 
bers from another person, not improbably in a distant village, 
the measurement of land from yet a third individual, no one of 
them being able to give him all the help he requires. 

The Chinese reckoning board is no doubt a very ingenious 
contrivance for facilitating computation, but it is nevertheless a 
very clumsy one. It has the fatal defect of leaving no trace of 
the processes through which the results have been reached, so 
that if any mistake occurs, it is necessary to repeat them all, on 
the reiterative principle of the House that Jack Built, until the 
answer is, or is supposed to be correct. That all the compli- 
cated accounts of a great commercial people like the Chinese, 
should be settled only through such a medium, seems indeed 
singular. An expert arrives at his conclusions with surprising 
celerity, but even those who are familar with ordinary reckon- 
ing, become puzzled the moment that a problem is presented 
to them beyond the scope of the ordinary rules. If one adult 
receives a pound of grain every ten days, and a child half as 
much, what amount should be allotted to 227 adults and 143 
children, for a month and a half? Over a problem as simple 
as this, we have seen a group of Chinese, some of whom had 
pretensions to classical scholarship, wrestle for half an hour, 
and after all no two of them reached the same conclusion. In- 
deed the greater their learning, the less fitted do the Chinese 
seem to be, in a mathematical way, to struggle with their en- 
vironment. 

The object of the teacher is to compel his pupils, first to 



lo6 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Remember, secondly, to Remember, thirdly and evermore to 
Remember. For every scholar, as we have seen, is theoretically 
a candidate for the district examinations, where he must write 
upon themes selected from any one of a great variety of 
books. He must, therefore, be prepared to recall at a 
moment's notice, not only the passage itself, but also its con- 
nections, and the explanations of the commentary, as a prereq- 
uisite for even attempting an essay. 

Under the conditions of the civil service examinations, as 
they have been conducted for many hundred years, a system of 
school instruction like the one here described, or which shall at 
least produce the same results, is an imperative necessity in 
China. A reform cannot begin anywhere until a reform begins 
everywhere. The excellence of the present system is often as- 
sumed and in proof, the great number of distinguished schol- 
ars which it produces, is adduced. But, on the other hand, it 
is absolutely necessary to take into account the innumerable 
multitudes who derive little or no benefit from their schooling. 
Nothing is more common than to meet men who, although 
they have spent from one to ten years at school, when asked if 
they can read, reply with literal truth that their knowledge of 
characters has been '' laid aside " — in other words they have for- 
gotten almost everything that they once knew, and are now be- 
come ''staring blind men," an expression which is a synonym 
for one who cannot read. 

It is a most significant fact that the Chinese themselves rec- 
ognize the truth that their school system tends to benumb the 
mental faculties, turning the teachers into machines, and the 
pupils into parrots. On the supposition that all the scholars 
were to continue their studies, and were eventually to be 
examined for a degree, it might be difficult to suggest any sys- 
tem which would take the place of the one now in use, in which 
a most capacious memory is a principal condition of success. 

In the Village School, however, it is within bounds to esti- 
mate that not one in twenty of the scholars — and more prob- 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 107 

ably, not three in a hundred — have any reasonable prospect of 
carrying their studies to anything like this point. The practi- 
cal result, therefore, is to compel at least ninety-seven scholars 
to pursue a certain routine, simply because it is the only known 
method by which three other scholars can compete for a de- 
gree. In other words, nineteen pupils are compelled to wear a 
heavy cast-iron yoke, in order to keep company with a twen- 
tieth, who is trying to get used to it as a step towards obtaining 
a future name ! If this inconvenient inequality is pointed out 
to teachers or to patrons, and if they are asked whether it 
would not be better to adopt, for the nineteen who will never 
go to the examinations, a system which involves less memorizing, 
and a wider range of learning in the brief time which is all 
that most of the pupils can spend at school, they reply, with 
perfect truth, that so far as they are aware there is no other 
system ; that even if the patrons desired to make the experi- 
ment (which would never be the case), they could find no 
teacher to conduct it ; and that even if a teacher should wish 
to institute such a reform (which would never happen), he 
would find no one to employ him. 

The extreme difficulty which men of some education often 
find in keeping from starvation, gives rise to a class of persons 
known as Strolling Scholars, (yu hsiad), who travel about the 
country vending paper, pictures, lithographs of tablets, pens and 
ink. These individuals are not to be confounded with travelling 
pedlars, who, though they deal in the same articles, make no 
pretension to learning, and generally convey their goods on a 
wheelbarrow, whereas the Strolling Scholar cannot manage 
anything larger than a pack. 

When a Strolling Scholar reaches a schoolhouse, he enters, 
lowers his bundle, and makes a profound bow to the teacher, 
who (though much displeased at his appearance) must return 
the courtesy. If there are large pupils, the stranger bows to 
them and addresses them as his Younger Brothers. The teacher 
then makes some inquiries as to his name, etc. If he turns out 



io8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

to be a mere pretender, without real scholarship, the teacher 
drops the conversation, and very likely leaves the schoolroom. 
This is a tacit signal to the larger scholars to get rid of the 
visitor. They place a few cash on the table, perhaps not more 
than five, or even three, which the Strolling Scholar picks up, 
and with a bow departs. If he sells anything, his profits are of 
the most moderate description — perhaps three cash on each 
pen, and two cash on each cake of ink. With a view to this 
class of demands, a small fund is sometimes kept on hand by 
the larger scholars, who compel the younger ones to contribute 
to it. 

If, however, the Strolling Scholar is a scholar in fact, as well 
as in name, so that his attainments become apparent, the teacher 
is obliged to treat him with much greater civility. Some of 
these roving pundits make a specialty of historical anecdotes, 
and miscellaneous knowledge, and in a general conversation 
with the teacher, the latter, who has not improbably confined 
himself to the beaten routine of classical study, is at a disad- 
vantage. In this case, other scholars of the village are perhaps 
invited in to talk with the stranger, who may be requested to 
write a pair of scrolls, and asked to take a meal with the 
teacher, a small present in money being made to him on his 
departure. 

It is related that a Strolling Scholar of this sort, being present 
when a teacher was explaining the Classics, deliberately took 
off his shoes and stockings in presence of the whole school. 
Being reproved by the teacher for this breach of propriety, he 
replied that his dirty stockings had as good an "odour" as 
the teacher's classical explanations. To this the teacher 
naturally replied by a challenge to the stranger to explain the 
Classics himself, that they might learn from him. The Stroll- 
ing Scholar, who was a person of considerable ability, had been 
waiting for just such an opportunity, and taking up the explana- 
tion, went on with it in such an elegant style, "every sentence 
being like an examination essay," that the teacher was amazed 



VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND TRAVELLING SCHOLARS 109 

and ashamed, and entertained him handsomely. If a teacher 
were to treat with disrespect one whose scholarship was 
obviously superior to his own, he would expose himself to dis- 
respect in turn, and might be disgraced before his own pupils, 
an occurrence which he is very anxious to avoid. 

In China the relation between teacher and pupil is far more 
intimate than in Western lands. One is supposed to be under 
a great weight of obligation to the master who has enlightened 
his darkness, and if this master should be at any time in need 
of assistance, it is thought to be no more than the duty of the 
pupil to afford it. This view of the case is obviously one which 
it is for the interest of teachers to perpetuate, and the result 
of the theory and of the attendant practice is that there are 
many decayed teachers roving about, living on the precarious 
generosity of their former pupils. 



X . 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION — THE VILLAGE HIGH SCHOOL — 
EXAMINATIONS — RECENT EDUCATIONAL EDICTS 

'fTT'HEN it is definitely decided that a pupil is to study for 
^ ^ the examinations, he enters a high school, which differs 
in many respects from the ones which he has hitherto attended. 
The teacher must be a man of more than average attainments, or 
he can neither gain nor hold such a place. His salary is much 
greater than that given by the ordinary school. The pupils are 
much harder worked, being compelled to spend almost all their 
waking hours in the study of model examination essays. These 
are to be committed to memory by the score and even by the 
hundred, as a result of which process the mind of the student 
gradually becomes so saturated with the materials of which 
they are composed, that he will always be able to take advan- 
tage of the accumulations of his patient memorizing in weaving 
his own compositions in the examination hall. 

During the preceding years of study he has already com- 
mitted to memory the most important parts of the literature of 
his native land. He is now intimately familiar with the ortho- 
dox explanations of the same. He has been gradually but 
thoroughly inducted into the mystery of tones and rhymes, the 
art of constructing poetry, and the weaving of antithetical 
couplets, beginning with the announcement that the heaven is 
high, balanced by the proposition that the earth is thick, and 
proceeding to the intricate and well-nigh inscrutable laws by 
which relation and correlation, thesis and antithesis are gov- 
erned. He has now to learn by carefully graded stages the art 
of employing all his preceding learning in the production of the 

no 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION m 

essay, which will hereafter constitute the warp and the woof of 
his intellectual fabric. In future he will eat, drink, write, talk, 
and sleep essays, essays, essays. 

Measured by Chinese standards, the construction of a perfect 
essay is one of the noblest achievements of which the human 
mind is capable. The man who knows all that has been pre- 
served of the wisdom of the ancients, and who can at a mo- 
ment's notice dash off essays of a symmetrical construction, 
lofty in sentiment, elevated in style, and displaying a wide ac- 
quaintance not only with the theme, but also with cognate sub- 
jects, such a man is fit not only to stand before kings, but before 
the very Son of Heaven himself. 

A high official called a provincial Literary Chancellor, 
(Hsiao Yuan), is despatched from Peking to the provinces, to 
hold periodical examinations once in three or twice in five 
years. Upon the occasion of an emperor's ascending the 
throne, his marriage, the birth of an heir, etc., there are extra 
examinations bestowed as a favour (en k^o). When the village 
scholar is able to produce an essay, and to write a poem that 
will pass the scrutiny of this formidable Literary Chancellor, he 
may hope to become a hsiu-ts'ai or graduate. In order to fit 
him for this ordeal, which is regarded by outsiders with awe, 
and is anticipated by the young candidate himself with mingled 
hope and terror, it is necessary that he should run the gauntlet 
of a long series of preliminary test examinations. 

Some months before the visit of the Chancellor is to take 
place, of which notice is communicated to the Governor of the 
Province, and from him to the District Magistrates, prepara- 
tions are made by the latter officer for the first examination, 
which is held before him, and in the District city. It is part 
of the duty of some of the numerous staff of this official to 
disseminate the notice of such an impending examination. In 
any Western country, this would be accomplished by the inser- 
tion of a brief advertisement in the official newspaper of the 
District, or County. In China, where there are no newspapers. 



112 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the message must be orally delivered. The high schools in 
which pupils are trained with special reference to such exami- 
nations, are visited, and the day of the examination notified. 
Literary graduates within the district, who must be examined 
with reference to passing a higher grade, are also informed of 
the date. A small sum, the equivalent of fifteen or twenty 
cents, is expected by the yam^n messengers as a solace for the 
"bitterness" which they have suffered in distributing the 
notices. Notwithstanding this clumsy method of circulating 
the notifications, it is rare that any one concerned fails to re- 
ceive the message. 

Those who intend to be examined, make their way to the 
city, a day or two in advance of the time fixed, that they may 
rent quarters for the half month which they will be obliged to 
spend there. If the student chance to have friends in the city, 
he may avoid the expense of renting a place, and if his home 
should be near the city, he may be able to return thither at in- 
tervals, and thus lessen the expenditure ; for all these trifles are 
important to the poor scholar, who has abundant need of 
money. As many scholars combine to rent one room or one 
house, the cost to each is not great, perhaps the equivalent of 
one or two dollars. Each candidate must furnish himself with 
provisions for half a month. In some district cities there 
are special examination buildings, capable by crowding, of 
seating 600 or 800 persons. In other cities, where these build- 
ings have either never been built, or have been allowed to go to 
ruin, the examination is conducted in the Confucian temple, or 
at the yamen of the District Magistrate. 

On the first day of the examination, two themes are given 
out at daylight, by which time every candidate must be in the 
place assigned him, and from there he must not stir. The 
themes are each taken from the Four Books, and the essay is 
not expected to exceed 600 characters. By nine or ten o'clock 
the stamp of the examiner is affixed to the last character writ- 
ten in the essay, preventing further additions if it should not be 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 113 

finished, and the essays are gathered up. About eleven o'clock, 
the third theme is given out. This is an exercise in poetry, 
the subject of which may be taken from the Book of Odes, or 
from some standard poet. The poem is to be composed of not 
more than sixty characters, five in each line. A rapid writer 
and composer, may be able to hand in his paper by three or 
four in the afternoon, and many others will require much 
longer. The limit of time may be fixed at midnight, or pos- 
sibly at daylight the next morning. The physical condition of 
a scholar who has been pinned to his seat for four and twenty 
hours, struggling to produce an essay and poem which shall be 
regarded by the severest critic as ideal, can be but faintly im- 
agined by the Occidental reader. 

The next two days being devoted to the inspection of the 
wilderness of essays and poems, the product of this first trial, 
the unhappy competitors have leisure for much needed rest and 
sleep. On the morning of the fourth day, the '^boards are 
hung," that is, the list of those whose essays have passed, is 
exposed. If the whole number of candidates should be 500 — 
an extremely moderate estimate for a reasonably populous dis- 
trict — the proportion of those whose hopes are at once wrecked 
may be half. Only those whose names are posted after the 
first trial can enter the succeeding one. If the subordinates of 
the magistrate perceive that a great many names are thrown 
out, they may come kneeling before the magistrate, knocking 
their heads, and begging that he will kindly allow a few more 
names to pass. If he happens to be in good humour at the 
moment, he may grant their request, which is not in the small- 
est degree prompted by any interest in the affairs of the disap- 
pointed candidates, but on the important principle, that the 
fewer the sheep, the smaller will be the crop of wool. 

The only fee required for the examination is that paid for 
registration, which amounts to about twenty cents. Not the 
name of the candidate only, but those of his father and grand- 
father are to be recorded, to make it sure that no one legally 



114 TILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

disqualified is admitted. The paper upon which the examina- 
tion essays and poems are written is of a special kind, sold only 
at the yamen, and at a cost for each examination equivalent to 
about ten cents, or fifty cents for the whole five examinations, 
but the candidate must pay three-fifths of this amount for the 
first supply, whether he is admitted to a further examination or 
not. If he is, he becomes entitled to a rebate of this amount 
on his subsequent purchases. 

On the fifth or sixth day, those who have been selected from 
the whole number examined, again file into the examination 
hall, and are seated according to their newly-acquired rank for 
the second test. Three themes are again propounded, the first 
from the Four Books, the second from one of the Five Classics, 
the third a poetical one, in a manner similar to the first exami- 
nation. A day or two is allowed for the inspection of these 
essays, when the boards are again hung, and the result is to 
drop out perhaps one-half of the competitors. 

At the third examination the themes, which are given out 
somewhat later than in the previous trials, are two in number, 
one from the Four Books, the other poetical. About noon of 
this day, the magistrate has a meal of vermicelli, rice, etc., 
sent to the candidates. By four in the afternoon the hall is 
empty. After the interval of another day the boards are again 
hung, indicating that all but perhaps fifty are excluded from 
further competition. 

The fourth examination begins at a later hour than the third, 
and while the number of the themes may be larger than before 
— all of them from the Four Books — time is not allowed for the 
completion of any of them. In addition to the classical 
themes, a philosophical one may be given. Besides this, there 
are poetical themes, to be treated in a way different from those 
in the preceding examinations, and much more difficult, as the 
lines of poetry are subject also to the rules governing the com- 
position of antithetical couplets. 

The metre, whether five characters to a line, or seven, (the 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 115 

only varieties to choose from), is left to the option of the can- 
didate, who, if he be a fine scholar and a rapid penman, may 
treat the same theme in both ways. A meal is served as at the 
preceding trial, and by five or six o'clock, the hall is empty. 
After the interval of another day, the fourth board is hung, and 
the number who have survived this examination is found to be 
a small one — perhaps twenty or thirty. 

A day later the final examination occurs. The theme is from 
the Four Books, and may be treated fully or partially according 
to the examiner's orders at the moment. A poem is required 
in the five-character metre, and also a transcript of some sec- 
tion of the <' Sacred Edicts" of the Emperor Yung Ch§ng. 
The design of the latter is to furnish a specimen of the candi- 
date's handwriting, in case it should be afterward needed for 
comparison. A meal is furnished as before, and by the middle 
of the afternoon the hall is cleared. The next day the board 
is again hung, announcing the names who have finally passed. 
The number is a fixed one, and it is relatively lowest where the 
population is most dense. In two contiguous districts, for ex- 
ample, which furnish on an average 500 or 600 candidates, the 
number of those who can pass is limited, in the one case to 
twenty and in the other to seventeen. In another district 
where there are often 2,000 candidates, on/y thirty can pass. 
It thus appears that the chances of success for the average can- 
didate, are extremely tenuous. 

Every candidate for a degree, is required to have a " surety." 
These are selected from graduates of former years, who have 
advanced one step beyond that of hsiu-ts*ai, to that of ling- 
sheng hsiu-ts'ai. The total number of sureties is not neces- 
sarily large, perhaps four from each district, and many of them 
may be totally unacquainted with the persons for whom they 
become thus responsible. The nature of this responsibility is 
twofold, first to guarantee that the persons who enter under a 
particular name, really bear that name, and second that during 
the examination they will not violate any of the established 



ii6 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

rules. If a false name is shown to have been entered, or if a 
violation of the rules occurs, the ling-sheng would be held re- 
sponsible, and would be likely to lose his own rank as a grad- 
uate. Each candidate is required to furnish not only a surety, 
but also an alternate surety, and in consideration of a present 
of from ten cents to five or six dollars, the ling-sh6ngs are quite 
willing to guarantee as many candidates as apply. They must 
be paid in advance, or they will prevent the candidate from 
entering the examination hall. 

The preliminary examinations in the District city, having 
been thus completed, are followed about a month later by simi- 
lar ones in the Prefectural city, before the Prefect, (chih-fu). 
Here are gathered candidates from all the districts within the 
jurisdiction of the Fu city, districts ranging in number accord- 
ing to density of population, from two or three, to twelve or 
more. Those who have failed to pass the District examinations 
are not on that account disqualified from appearing at the Pre- 
fectural examinations, which, like the former, are intended to 
act as a process of sifting, in preparation for the final and de- 
cisive trial before the Literary Chancellor. The details of the 
Prefectural examinations are similar to those already described, 
and the time required is about the same. The number of can- 
didates in a thickly-settled Prefecture, will often amount to 
more than 10,000. As no ordinary examination building will 
accommodate so many at once, they are examined in relays. 
The examinations are conducted by the Prefect, but it by no 
means follows that those who have been first in the District ex- 
aminations will be so now. The order changes, indeed, from 
day to day, but those who are constantly toward the head of 
the list, are regarded as certain to pass the Chancellor's exam- 
ination. 

The writer is acquainted with a man who at his examination 
for the first degree, stood last in a list of seventeen, at the trial 
next before the final one. But in that test he was dropped 
one number, missing his degree by this narrow margin. His 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 117 

grief and rage were so excessive as to unbalance his mind, and 
for the greater part of his Ufe he has been a heavy burden on 
his wife, doing absolutely nothing either for her support or for 
his own. 

Those who have already attained the degree of hsiu-ts'ai, are 
examined by themselves for promotion. The expense of ob- 
taining sureties is confined to the last two sets of examinations. 
The final trial before the Literary Chancellor is conducted with 
far greater care and caution than the preliminary ones before 
the local officials. The candidates having been duly guaran- 
teed and entered, are assigned to seats, distinguished by the 
characters in the Millenary Classic, which as already mentioned, 
affords a convenient system of notation, being familiar, and 
having no repeated characters. The students are closely 
packed together, fifteen or twenty at each table. The first 
table is termed *' Heaven " after the first character in the Mil- 
lenary Classic, and its occupants are denoted as " heaven one," 
"heaven two," etc. Each candidate notes his designation; for 
in the final lists of those who have passed, no names are used, but 
only the description of the seat as above described. Every 
student is carefully searched as he enters the hall, to ascertain 
whether he has about him any books or papers which might aid 
him in his task. The examination begins at an extremely 
early hour, the theme being given out by sunrise. This theme 
is written on a large wooden tablet, and is carried about to all 
parts of the room, that each candidate may see it distinctly. 
It is also read out, in a loud voice. By nine or ten o'clock an- 
other subject is announced from the Four Books and a poetical 
theme in five-metre rhythm. A rapid writer and composer 
might finish his work by one or two o'clock in the afternoon. 
As in other examinations, those who have completed their tasks 
are allowed to leave the hall at fixed times, and in detachments. 
By five or six p. m. the time is up, and the fatal stamp is 
affixed to the last character, whatever the stage of the composi- 
tion. During the whole of this examination, no one is allowed 



Ii8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

on any pretext whatever to move from his position. If one 
should be taken deathly sick, he reports to the superintendent 
of his section, and requests permission to be taken out, but in 
this case he cannot return. A student who should merely rise 
in his seat and look around, would be beaten a hundred blows 
on his hand, like a schoolboy (as indeed he is supposed to be), 
would be compelled to kneel during the whole of the examina- 
tion, and at the close would be ejected in disgrace, losing the 
opportunity for examination until another year. 

Some years ago the examination hall of the city of Chi-nan 
Fu, the capital of Shan-tung, was in a very bad condition. 
The Chancellor held the summer examinations at that city, be- 
cause the situation is near to hills, and to water, and thus was 
supposed to be a little cooler than others. At one of these ex- 
aminations, a violent rain came on, and the roof of the build- 
ing leaked like a sieve. Many of the poor candidates were 
wet to the skin, their essays and poems being likewise in soak, 
yet there they were obliged to remain, riveted to their seats. 
The unhealthy season caused much sickness, and many of the 
candidates suffered severely, seven or eight dying of cholera 
while the examinations were in progress. That this is not an 
exceptional state of things, is evident from the fact that it has 
since been repeated. In the autumn examinations for 1888, at 
this same place, it was reported that over one hundred persons 
died in the quarters, either of cholera or of some epidemic 
closely resembling it. Of these, some were servants, some 
copyists, some students, and a few officials. On the same oc- 
casion one of the main examination buildings fell in, as a result 
of which several persons were said to have been killed. The 
utterly demoralizing effect of such occurrences is obvious. 

On the second or third day after the examinations the boards 
are hung, and the number of those successful appears. Yet to 
make the choice doubly sure, and to guard against fraud and 
accidents, still another examination is added, which is final and 
decisive. In addition to the twenty or thirty who have passed, 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 119 

half as many more names are taken of those next highest, 
making perhaps thirty or forty candidates, between whom the 
final choice will lie. At this examination a theme from the 
Four Books is again announced, on which only a fragment, the 
beginning, middle or end of an essay, is to be produced, under 
the immediate eye of the Chancellor himself. The number of 
those examined being so limited, it is easy to supervise them 
strictly, and changes in the previous order are sure to occur. 

When the results of this examination are posted, the persons 
who have finally passed, and whose talents are definitely ad- 
judged to be *' flourishing," are for the first time known. 
Those who have failed at any stage of the trial may return to 
their homes, but those who have ''entered school" must re- 
main at the Prefectural city, to escort the Chancellor upon his 
way to the next city where he is to hold examinations. 

The expenses of the Chancellor's examination, to those who 
fail to pass, are the same as those of the preceding ones. But 
for those who have ''entered " there are other and most mis- 
cellaneous expenses, illustrating the Chinese aphorism that it is 
the sick man who must furnish the perspiration. The fee to 
the ling-sheng who is surety, has been already mentioned. 
There are also other fees or gratuities, the amount of which 
will depend upon the circumstances of the student, but all of 
which must be paid. The underlings who transact the busi- 
ness of the examination receive presents to the amount of sev- 
eral dollars, the ''board-hangers" must be rewarded with a 
few hundred cash, etc., etc. 

As soon as the candidate is known to have " entered," a 
strip of red paper is prepared, announcing this fact, and a 
messenger is posted off to the graduate's home. For this 
service, a fee of several thousand cash is expected. Large 
proclamations, called "Joyful Announcements," are prepared 
by establishments where characters are cut on blocks, and sold 
to successful competitors, at the rate of three or four cents 
apiece. A poor scholar may not be able to afford these luxur- 



I20 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

ies, but those who can afford it buy great numbers of them, 
sending them in every direction to friends and relatives, who 
take care to have them properly posted. On receipt of these 
notifications, it is customary for the friends of the fortunate 
family to pay a visit of congratulation, at which they must be 
handsomely entertained at a feast. Each one brings with him 
a present in money, varying according to his circumstances, 
and his relations to the family of the graduate. If the new- 
made Bachelor has a wide circle of relatives and friends, espe- 
cially if some of them happen to be occupying official positions, 
he will not improbably receive enough in gifts of this sort, to 
reimburse himself for the costs attending his examinations, and 
in exceptional instances, his congratulatory presents may greatly 
exceed the total of his expenses. 

The style of these notices is the same, a blank being left for 
the name and rank of the graduate which is inserted in writ- 
ing. It is a very common practice in some regions to an- 
nounce that the person concerned, *' entered as first on the list,'* 
though as a matter of fact he may have been one of the last. 
This is considered a very easy and desirable way to get a name, 
though no one is deceived by the fraud, for when a dead wall 
is covered by scores of these announcements, each recording 
the entry of some one as the ''first name," it is obvious that 
the phrase is merely employed for display. 

It would naturally be supposed that the result of competition 
so severe and so protracted as that for the degree of hsiu-ts'ai, 
would be certified in the most careful manner, such as by a di- 
ploma bearing the seal of the Chancellor. There is, however, 
nothing of the kind. The essays of the successful candidates 
are supposed to be forwarded to the Board of Rites in Peking, 
where it is to be hoped they eventually grow mouldy and dis- 
appear, else the capital might be buried beneath the enormous 
mass. But the individual whose talent is at last flourishing, 
has of that fact no tangible evidence whatever. When it be- 
comes desirable to investigate the claim of a hsiu-ts'ai, he is 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 121 

asked in what year he graduated, the name of the examiner, 
the several themes propounded, etc. It will be difficult to 
manufacture plausible replies, which will not give some clew to 
their falsity. In one case of this sort within the writer's knowl- 
edge, a man who had been examined, but who did not pass, on 
being questioned gave the name, the subjects, etc., which be- 
longed to his own brother, who really was a graduate. The 
man himself, as afterward appeared, was in prison at the very 
time when he professed to have graduated. 

This absence of credentials for a degree so much coveted, 
makes it easy for scholars of shrewdness, and real ability, to 
pass themselves off in districts remote from their own, as hav- 
ing attained to a rank which they have not in reality reached. 

A graduate is allowed to wear a plain brass button on his 
cap, which he prefers to the pewter one given him on gradu- 
ating. In case of violations of law, the Magistrate of the 
District in which the offender lives, may have his button taken 
away, and the graduate reduced to the level of any other per- 
son. As long, however, as he continues to be a graduate, he 
cannot be beaten like other Chinese, except on the palm of the 
hand. If a Magistrate were to violate the rights of any grad- 
uate, the act would raise a tornado about his head, before 
which he would be glad to retreat, for the whole body of 
graduates would rise like a swarm of hornets to resent the 
insult. 

The financial exigencies of the past generation or two have 
led to the open sale of literary degrees, a practice resorted to 
on a great scale by the Chinese Government, whenever there is 
any unusual pressure for funds, such as the repair of the disas- 
ters caused by the change in the Yellow River. It is often 
quite possible to buy the degree of hsiu-ts'ai, for about $100, 
and the purchaser is provided with a certificate, being in this 
respect on a better footing than the graduate. But subscrip- 
tion degrees are regarded with merited contempt, and their sale 
great as it has been, does not appear to have seriously affected 



122 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the regular examinations, by diminishing the number of con- 
testants. 
^^ There are other methods than purchase of a degree, by which 
f the candidate for Hterary honours, whose means admit of it, 
may try to weight the wheel of fortune in his favour. There are 
three common ways of providing oneself with examination es- 
says without undergoing the labour of composing them. Of 
these the first is known as the "box plan," (Jisiang-tzu), and it 
is not so much cramming, as padding. The Four Books and 
Five Classics seem at first sight to afford an almost unbounded 
field for subjects of essays, and as the Chancellor does not an- 
nounce his themes until he enters the hall, it is hopeless to at- 
tempt to ascertain them in advance. But the shrewd Celestial 
has an empirical, if not a scientific acquaintance with the doc- 
trine of chances and of averages. He knov/s that in the course 
of years, the same themes recur, and that essays which were 
composed long before he was born are just as good in the pres- 
ent year as they ever were. The " padding " method consists 
in lining one's clothing with an immense number of essays, 
the characters of which are of that minute kind known as *' fly- 
eye," scarcely legible without a magnifying glass. Upon this 
scale, it is easy to reduce an essay with 300 characters to a 
compass of extreme insignificance, and a moderately " padded " 
scholar might be provided with 8,000 or 10,000 such essays. 
Sometimes they are concealed in the baskets in which the stu- 
dents bring their provisions to the hall. By dint of a complete 
index, the student who is padded, can readily ascertain whether 
he is provided with an essay upon the passage desired, and 
though the withdrawal of an essay from a pack might seem a 
more difficult feat, it is easily done by the judicious expendi- 
ture of a fee to the guards both at the door and within the hall. 
A variation of the padding method is to have essays written all 
over the lining of the inner jackets, which are made of white 
silk for this purpose. 

A second and very common way of obtaining essays without 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 123 

writing them, is by purchase. In furtherance of this plan, 
there is a special system of machinery, which (with appropri- 
ate financial lubrication) may be easily set in motion. 

The purchase of an essay is one of those acts which in China 
can by no possibility be concealed. *< There is no hedge that 
excludes the wind," and the close proximity of so many wit- 
nesses would, in any case, render the transaction in a manner a 
public one. Why then do not those scholars who are honestly 
toiling for a degree, agree to expose the frauds by which every 
one of them is so seriously wronged ? It is not, indeed, an 
unknown circumstance for a scholar to cry out, so as to attract 
the attention of the examiners, when he witnesses the transfer 
of essays, but it is not apparently a common act. /The custom 
of selling essays, like other abuses in China, is too universal 
and too ancient to be broken up, without the steady coopera- 
tion of many forces, for which it is hopeless to look. The 
Chinese dread to give offence by any such burst of indignation 
as would be, for an Occidental, irrepressible. And so things 
go on in the old way. As to the morality of the affair, if the 
consideration of it ever occurs to any one, it is hard to make 
that appear culpable in a poor scholar, which is legitimate for 
the emperor. / 

The proportion of students who obtain their degrees unfairly 
must be large, but there is no means of ascertaining the facts, 
even approximately. No two examinations are alike, and in all 
of them much depends upon the temper and vigilance of the 
presiding officer. In one district in which the writer lived, 
there was an examination in which so many persons obtained 
their degrees by fraud, that even the patience of the most pa- 
tient of peoples was exhausted. / Some defeated candidate 
wrote a complaint of the wrong, and tossed it into the exami- 
nation hall where it was brought to the attention of the Chancel- 
lor, who had all the successful candidates examined on their es- 
says, an examination which eleven out of fifteen were unable to 
pass, having bought their essays,, and the result was their sum- 



124 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

mary disgrace. Since this occurrence, much greater care has 
been exercised at this particular examination than was formerly 
the rule. In another district a candidate known to the writer 
succeeded in passing the first of the two examinations before 
the Chancellor, but the second was too much for him. His 
essay and poem were adjudged bad, and he was beaten a hun- 
dred blows on the hand. It was then the custom to publish the 
names of those who passed the best examination on the first 
trial before the Chancellor, as already having attained a de- 
gree. This notice had already been sent to the home of the 
candidate, who now had the exquisite mortification of having 
his name erased, when the prize was already within his grasp. 
The subordinates in the yamen of the Chancellor kneeled to his 
Excellency, and implored him to overlook the amazing stupid- 
ity of this candidate, which the great man was kind enough to 
do, and thus a degree was wrested even from fate itself. 

At all varieties of examinations, there are present many per- 
sons who act as essay brokers and as middle-men between those 
who have essays to sell, and those who wish to buy. It is sup- 
posed that both the seller of the essay and the purchaser will 
be among those examined, but the practical difficulty arises 
from the uncertainty whether their respective seats in the hall, 
which cannot be known in advance, will be within reach of each 
other. As any two persons are very liable to be so far apart 
that communication will be impossible, it is usual for the essay 
broker to introduce a number of essay vendors to each intend- 
ing purchaser, so that the chances of effecting a transfer be- 
tween any two of them may be increased. To bind the bar- 
gain, before the essay is composed, a brief but explicit contract 
is signed by the purchaser in the hall. The terms are arranged 
on a sliding scale, called ** first two and after two," "first five 
and after five," etc. This signifies that it is agreed that the 
person who furnishes the essay shall receive in any event a first 
payment of 20,000 cash, or 50,000 cash, as the case may be, 
and should the purchaser win a degree, there is to be an after 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 125 

payment of 200,000 cash, or 500,000 cash, according to the 
terms. These payments are enforced by the brokers, who must 
be well acquainted with the financial circumstances of the sev- 
eral parties. These obligations, like gambling debts, cannot 
of course be legally prosecuted, but the Chinese have in all 
such cases simple ways of enforcing payment, such as raising 
a disturbance in an annoying and public way. 

The reputation of having bought an examination essay is not 
one which any candidate wishes to have made public authentic- 
ally, however notorious the fact may be, but the reputation of 
having bought an essay and of having declined payment, would 
be intolerable. Some essay vendors frequent examinations for 
a long series of years, with no view to obtaining a degree for 
themselves, but in order to reap more substantial benefits from 
their scholarship than a degree is likely to confer. If they have 
once taken a degree themselves, they can only carry on this 
trade by assuming the name of some candidate, to whom a fee 
must be paid for the privilege of personating him. Graduates 
of the rank of Selected Men also carry on this business, some- 
times in a double way, taking a degree for the person whom 
they personate, and also having leisure to write essays for sale, 
after their own are finished, thus killing two birds with one 
stone. In either case, it is necessary to bribe the ling-sh§ng 
who is the guarantee of the identity of the undergraduate. 

The third method of obtaining the essays of other persons, is 
called *' transmission " (ch'uan ti). This can only be ac- 
complished by the cooperation of the inspectors (hsiin ch*ang) 
who, like all other mortals, are supposed to be perfectly open to 
considerations of temporal advantage, if only arguments of 
sufficient strength are employed. As soon as the Chancellor's 
theme is announced, it is copied, and at a preconcerted signal 
thrown over the wall of the examination premises to persons 
waiting for it. Several scholars outside may have been previ- 
ously engaged to write essays for different persons within the 
hall. When the essays are finished they are carefully done up, 



126 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

and at a signal, such as a call for a dog or for a cat, are thrown 
over the wall to the watchman, who has been previously paid 
to receive them. The inspector, also liberally fed, ascertains 
from a private mark on each essay, for whom it is intended, 
and while pacing back and forth through the hall, contrives to 
deliver them, without being seen by the Chancellor. In one 
case, six persons were known to have received their degrees, 
on the merits of essays which were brought into the hall after 
being thrown over the wall in a single bundle. Sometimes 
essays are concealed in the body of a harmless-looking bread- 
cake, which is tossed carelessly from one candidate to another 
when the lunches are eaten, with the connivance, no doubt, of 
the inspectors. The District Magistrates sometimes post the 
Secretaries at the corners of the examination hall, where it is 
easy to see all that goes on. But much more often, it is prob- 
able, that the Magistrate takes little interest in such details. 

In some examinations, the Chancellors are very strict, and 
forbid any of the watchmen to enter the hall at all, which, of 
course, checkmates the plan last described. Such instances are 
much more than offset by others, in which the Chancellor does 
not remain through the examination himself, but entrusts the 
conduct of affairs to his Secretaries. These functionaries are 
then at liberty to furnish essays to candidates who can afford to 
pay the heavy price necessary. In such cases, while ostensibly 
examining the essays, the Secretaries find it easy to throw one 
of their own under a stool, or in some place from which it may 
be readily captured by the purchaser. 

In a case reported in the Peking Gazette some years since, a 
bold vendor of essays succeeded in getting his paper conveyed 
to the individual for whom it was intended, by hooking it on 
the garments of the venerable Chancellor himself, who thus un- 
consciously became the bearer of the very documents which he 
was endeavouring to suppress ! The candidates at the Chan- 
cellor's examination are generally seated in such proximity, that 
including those on each side, most of the students are within 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 127 

easy reach of ten or fifteen other persons. This renders the 
transfer of papers an easy matter. In the second of these 
trials, when the number is reduced to a mere handful, the stu- 
dents are often seated just as compactly as before. 

A scholar with whom the writer is acquainted, once found 
himself near a poor fellow, who was utterly at a loss how to 
treat the theme from Mencius, "Like climbing a tree to catch 
a fish." A verbal arrangement was hastily made for the pur- 
chase of an essay, but the usual written agreement was omitted. 
The essay was indited in the lawless style of chirography known 
as the "grass character," and handed to the purchaser to be 
copied. Here an untoward accident occurred, for the man 
who bought the essay mistook two characters, when he copied 
out the paper, for two others which they much resembled, thus 
ruining the chances of success. The poor scholar begged off 
from the amount which he had agreed to pay, (which was 
about ten dollars) on the plea of poverty. The angry essay- 
seller then raised a kind of mob of students, went to the lodg- 
ings of his debtor and made an uproar, the result of which was 
to extract from the latter about a dollar and a half, which was 
all that could be got ! The preceptor of the man who sold the 
essay, who was himself one of the candidates at this examina- 
tion, claimed, with many others, that the essay which was sold, 
as represented by the author, must certainly have resulted in a 
degree for the poor scholar if he had not blundered in inditing 
false characters. 

Should an examiner overlook a wrong character, and the 
fact be afterward made public, he might be degraded for his 
carelessness. A case of this sort was reported a few years ago 
in the Peking Gazette. At the triennial examination for the 
Han-lin, in the year 1871, after the essays had been submitted 
to the Han-lin examiners, the nine most meritorious ones were 
selected, and were sent in to the Empress Dowager — the Em- 
peror being under age — to have the award formally confirmed. 
The work of greatest merit was placed uppermost, but the old 



128 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

lady, who had an imperial will of her own, was anxious to 
thwart the decision of the learned pundits; and, as chance 
would have it, the sunlight fell upon the chosen manuscript, 
and she discovered a flaw, a thinness in the paper, indicating a 
place in the composition where one character had been erased 
and another substituted. The Empress rated the examiners 
for allowing such ** slovenly work" to pass, and proclaimed 
another man, whose name was Hsiang, as victor. This indi- 
vidual hailed from the province of Kuang-tung — a province 
which had produced a Senior Wrangler but once in 250 years. 
On his return to his native province the successful scholar was 
received by the local authorities with the highest possible 
honours. All the families owning his surname who could 
afford to do so paid enormous sums to be permitted to come 
and worship at his ancestral hall, for by this means they estab- 
lished a pseudo claim to relationship, and were allowed to place 
tablets over the entrances of their own halls inscribed with the 
title Chuang Yiian, or Senior Wrangler. The superstitious 
Cantonese believed that the sunbeam which revealed the fatal 
flaw was a messenger sent from heaven ! 

The fact that a man has taken the degree of hsiu-ts*ai, does 
not release him from the necessity of studying. On the con- 
trary, this is called "entering school," and the graduate is re- 
quired to present himself at each triennial examination, to com- 
pete for the next step in the scale of honours, that of ling- 
sheng hsiu-ts'ai. The number of graduates who can attain 
the rank of ling-shdng in any one year is limited. In a district 
which graduates seventeen hsiu-ts'ai, there may be but one or 
two ling-sheng graduates passed at a time. There are, how- 
ever, extra examinations, as already explained, in case of the 
accession of an Emperor, etc., and when a vacancy in the fixed 
number takes place through death, an additional candidate is 
allowed to pass to fill the place. A hsiu-ts'ai is not allowed to 
decline the examination merely on account of the improbability 
of his passing it ; on the contrary, every graduate is required 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 129 

to compete as often as examinations occur. This is the 
theory, but as a matter of fact, the payment of about a dollar 
and a half to the underlings of the Superintendent of Instruc- 
tion for the District will enable the candidate to have an entry 
opposite his name, signifying that he is ** incapacitated by ill- 
ness," or is "not at home." But after the graduate has been 
examined ten times, and has persistently failed to show any 
capacity for further advance, he is excused from examination 
thereafter, and his name is dropped. At these examinations the 
candidates are divided into four classes according to the re- 
spective merits of their essays. If any candidate fails to get 
into the first three classes, he is regarded as having forfeited his 
title to the grade of hsiu-ts'ai, and he loses his rank as such, 
unless the Chancellor can be prevailed upon to excuse his 
''rotten scholarship," and give the unfortunate student another 
trial. Hence the proverb, "The hsiu-ts'ai dreads the fourth 
class." The ling-shdng is entitled to a small allowance of 
about ^10 a year, from the Government, to assist him in the 
prosecution of his studies, though the amount can hardly be re- 
garded as proportioned to the difficulty of attaining the rank 
which alone is entitled to receive this meagre help. 

The ling-sheng graduates are required to compete at the 
triennial examinations, for the next step, which is that of kung- 
sheng. Only one candidate can enter this rank at one examin- 
ation unless there should be a special vacancy. 

There are five varieties of kung-sheng, according to the time 
at which and the conditions under which they have graduated. 
These scholars do not, like the ling-sheng, act as bondsmen for 
undergraduates, nor do they like them, have an allowance. 
They are permitted to wear a semi-official robe, and are ad- 
dressed by a title of respect, but in a pecuniary point of view 
their honours are empty ones, unless they secure the place of 
Superintendent of Instruction, which must, however, be in 
some district other than their own. The kung-sh8ng and the 
hsiu-ts'ai are at opposite ends of one division of the long edu- 



I30 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

cational road. The former is regarded as a schoolboy, and 
the latter is for the first time a man, and need be examined no 
more, unless he chooses to compete for the rank of Selected 
Man, (chii-jen) an examination which has intricacies and perils 
of its own. <*The hsiu-ts'ai," says the proverb, "must have 
talent, but the chii-jen must have fate," that is, no amount of 
talent, by itself, will suffice to win this higher rank, unless the 
fates are on one's side, a proposition which we are prepared to 
believe, from what has already been seen of the lower grades 
of scholarship. 

At any part of the long process which we have described, it 
is possible to become a candidate for honours above, by pur- 
chasing those below. A man of real talent, studiously inclined, 
might for example buy the rank of ling-sheng, and then with a 
preceptor of his own, and great diligence, become a kung- 
sheng, a chii-j^n, and perhaps at last an official, skipping all the 
tedious lower steps. The taint of having climbed over the 
wall, instead of entering by the straight and narrow way, 
would doubtless cling to him forever, but this circumstance 
would probably not interfere with his equanimity, so long as it 
did not diminish his profits. As a matter of experience, how- 
ever, it is probable that it would be more worth while to buy an 
office outright, rather than to enter the field, by the circuitous 
route of a combination of purchase and examinations. 

Whether to be examined or not is not always optional in 
China. A father was determined that his son should study for 
a degree, which the son was very unwilling to do, yielding how- 
ever to compulsion. He was so successful that at the age of 
nineteen he became a Bachelor, only to find that his father's 
ambition was far from satisfied, and that he now required him 
to go on and work for the next degree of Selected Man. Per- 
ceiving that there was no hope of escaping this discouraging 
task, the youth hung himself, and was examined no more ! 

The office of Superintendent of Instruction, is considered a 
very desirable one, since the duties are light, and the income 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 131 

considerable. This income arises partly from a large tract of 
land set apart for the support of the two Superintendents, 
partly from *< presents " of grain exacted twice a year after the 
manner of Buddhist priests, and partly from fees which every 
graduate is required to pay, varying as all such Chinese pay- 
ments do, according to the circumstances of the individual. 
The Superintendent is careful to inquire privately into the 
means at the disposal of each graduate, and fixes his tax ac- 
cordingly. From his decision there is no appeal. If the pay- 
ment is resisted as excessive, the Superintendent, who is theo- 
retically his preceptor, will have the hsiu-ts'ai beaten on the 
hands, and probably double the amount of the assessment. If 
any of the graduates in a district are accused of a crime, they 
are reported to the District Magistrate, who turns them over to 
the Superintendent of Instruction, for an inquiry. The Super- 
intendent and the Magistrate together, could secure the dis- 
grace of a graduate, as already explained. 

The Government desires to encourage learning as much as 
possible, and to this end there are in many cities, what may be 
termed Government high-schools or colleges, where preceptors 
of special ability are appointed to explain the Classics, and to 
hold frequent examinations, similar to those in the regular 
course, as described. The funds for the support of such insti- 
tutions, are sometimes derived from the voluntary subscriptions 
of wealthy persons, who have been rewarded by the gift of an 
honourary title, or perhaps from a tax on a cattle fair, etc. 
Where the arrangement is carried out in good faith, it has 
worked well, but in two districts known to the writer, the whole 
plan has been brought into discredit of late years, on account 
of the promotion to office of District Magistrates who have 
bought their way upv/ard, and who have no learning of their 
own. In such cases, the management of the examination is 
probably left to a Secretary, who disposes of it as quickly and 
with as little trouble to himself as possible. The themes for 
the essays are given out, and prizes promised for the best, but 



132 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

instead of remaining to superintend the competition, the Secre- 
tary goes about his business, leaving the scholars who wish to 
compete to go to their homes, and write their essays there, or 
to have others do it for them, as they prefer. In some in- 
stances, the same man registers under ^ variety of names, and 
writes competitive essays for them all, or he perhaps writes his 
essays and sells them to others, and when they are handed in, 
no questions are asked. It would be easy to stop abuses of this 
sort, if it were the concern or the interest of any one to do so, 
but it is not, and so they continue. A school-teacher with 
whom the writer is acquainted, happening to have a school near 
the district city, made it a constant practice for many years, to 
attend examinations of this sort. He was examined about a 
hundred times, and on four occasions received a prize, once a 
sum in money equivalent to about seventy-five cents, and three 
other times a sum equal to about half-a-dollar ! 

It is a constant wonder to Occidentals, by what motives the 
Chinese are impelled, in their irrepressible thirst for literary 
degrees, even under all the drawbacks and disadvantages, some 
of which have been described. These motives, like all others 
in human experience are mixed, but at the base of them all, is 
a desire for fame and for power. In China the power is in the 
hands of the learned and of the rich. Wealth is harder to ac- 
quire than learning, and incomparably more difficult to keep. 
The immemorial traditions of the empire are all in favour of 
the man who is willing to submit to the toils that he may win 
the rewards of the scholar. 

Every village as already explained, has its headmen. Among 
them the literary graduate, provided he is also a practical man, 
will inevitably take the lead. He will often come into relations 
with the District Magistrate, which makes him a marked man 
among his fellows. He will be constantly called upon to assist 
in the settlement of disputes, and ,^ every such occasion will 
afford opportunities for the privilege, so dear to the Chinese, of 
enjoying a feast at the expense of his neighbours,^ besides put- 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 133 

ting them under an obligation to him for his trouble. At the 
weddings and funerals within the large circle of his acquaint- 
ance he will be a frequent guest, and always in the place of 
honour due to his literary degree. This is especially the case in 
funeral ceremonies of those who are buried with the most elab- 
orate ritual. fc)n these occasions the ancestral tablet of the 
deceased is to be written, and as an important part of the ex- 
ercises a red dot over one character signifying King is to be 
placed, thus changing it into the symbol denoting Lord. It is 
not uncommon to have the performances connected with such 
funerals extended over several days, each furnishing three ex- 
cellent feasts, as well as abundant supplies of opium for those 
who wish to smoke. , In a country like China the participation 
in revels such as these approach more nearly to paradisaic bliss 
than anything of which the Chinese mind can conceive. 
Every scholar is desirous of getting into such relations with his 
environment that honours of this sort come to him as a matter of 
course. If he happens to be very poor, they furnish a not un- 
important part of his support, as well as of his happiness. ) 

The village graduate who knows how to help in lawsuits by 
preparing complaints, and by assisting in the intricate proceed- 
ings ensuing at each stage is often able by means of the prestige 
thus gained, to get his living at the expense of others more 
ignorant. No country offers a better field for such an enter- 
prise than China. Unbounded respect for learning coexists 
with unbounded ignorance, and the experienced literary man 
knows how to turn each of these elements to the very best ac- 
count. In all lands and in all ages, the man who is possessed 
with what is vulgarly termed the "gift of the gab," is able to 
make his own way, and in China he carries everything before 
him. 

The range of territory which any aspirant for literary honours 
in China must expect to traverse, is, as we have seen, conti- 
nental. In order to have any hope of success, he must be ac- 
quainted with every square inch of it, and must be prepared to 



134 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

sink an artesian well from any given point to any given depth. 
To the uneducated peasant, whose whole being is impregnated 
with a blind respect for learning, amounting at times to a kind 
of idolatry, such knowledge as this seems an almost supernat- 
ural acquirement, and inspires all the reverence of which he is 
capable. The thought of the estimate in which they will be 
held for the whole term of their lives, is thus a powerful stim- 
ulus to scholars of ambition, even under the greatest discour- 
agements. 

There could scarcely be a better exemplification of what the 
Chinese saying calls *< superiority to those below, and inferiority 
to those above," than the position of the hsiu-ts'ai. While he 
is looked upon by the vulgar herd in the light we have de- 
scribed, by the educated classes above him he is regarded, as 
we have so often termed him, as a schoolboy who is not yet 
even in school. The popular dictum avers that though the 
whole body of hsiu-ts'ai should attempt to start a rebellion, and 
should be left undisturbed in the effort for three years, the re- 
sult would be failure, albeit this proverb finds no support in the 
history of the great rebellion, which originated with a discon- 
tented undergraduate who was exasperated at his repeated fail- 
ures to get his talent recognized. Literary examinations, as we 
have abundantly seen, are like the game of backgammon, an 
equal mixture of skill and luck, but the young graduate easily 
comes to regard the luck as due to the skill, and thus becomes 
filled to the full of that intellectual pride which is one of the 
greatest barriers to the national progress of China. / 

Differing by millenniums from the system just described is that 
recently decreed after successful agitation by a few reformers. 
During the summer of 1898 His Majesty Kuang Hsii, Emperor 
of China, issued several Edicts which abolished the '^eight- 
legged examination essay" as an avenue to the attainment of 
literary degrees, and introduced in their place what was termed 
Practical Chinese Literature, and Western Learning, which were 
to be combined in Provincial and County Academies. Exist- 



CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION 135 

ing institutions were to be remodelled after a more or less defi- 
nite pattern set in Peking. All except official temples (that is, 
those where offerings or services were required from the Magis- 
trates) were to be surrendered as seats of the New Learning. 
Reports were demanded from Provincial Governors as to the 
present status of these temples, and the future prospects for in- 
come from them. 

These Edicts potentially revolutionized the intellectual life of 
China. i^They were received very differently in different parts 
of the empire, but there is no reason to doubt that they would 
have been widely welcomed by an influential minority of the 
literati of China, who had in various ways come to realize the 
futility of the present instruction for the needs of to-day. The 
immediate effect was to bring Western Learning into universal 
demand. Scholars who had never deigned to recognize the ex- 
istence of foreigners, were now glad to become their pupils and 
purchasers of their text-books on a large scale. For a few 
weeks examination themes were strongly tinctured with Western 
topics, and those who were able to show any familiarity with 
those branches of learning were almost sure of a degree. Cor- 
rect answers to simple mathematical, geographical, or astro- 
nomical questions are said to have rendered success certain, 
and it is even alleged that a candidate in one place took his 
honours by writing out and commenting upon the Ten Com- 
mandments, which he represented as The Western Code of 
Laws. ] 

Toward the close of September, 1898, the Empress Dow- 
ager seized the reins, suppressed her nephew, and nearly all re- 
forms, educational and political, were extinguished. A new 
Imperial University in Peking survived the storm, but almost 
all of the extended and beneficent program of His Majesty was 
relegated to the Greek Kalends. It is only a question of time 
when the pendulum shall swing back, but every well-wisher of 
China hopes that it may not be delayed until the national ex- 
istence of the Chinese shall have been lost. 



XI 

VILLAGE TEMPLES AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES 

'T^HE process by which the inconceivably great numbers of 
■■' Chinese temples came to be is not without an interest of 
its own. When a few individuals wish to build a temple, they 
call the headmen of the village, in whose charge by long cus- 
tom are all the public matters of the town, and the enterprise is 
put in their care. It is usual to make an assessment on the 
land for funds ; this is not necessarily a fixed sum for each 
acre, but is more likely to be graded according to the amount 
of land each owns, the poor being perhaps altogether exempt, 
or very lightly taxed, and the rich paying much more heavily. 
When the money is all collected by the managers, the building 
begins under their direction. If the temple is to be a large 
one, costing several hundred taels, in addition to this preliminary 
tax, a subscription book is opened, and sent to all the neigh- 
bouring villages, and sometimes to all within a wide radius, the 
I begging being often done by some priest of persuasive powers, 
dragging a chain, or having his cheeks pierced with spikes, or in 
some way bearing the appearance of fulfilling a vow. The only 
motive to these outside contributions is the strong impetus to 
the '* practice of virtue," which exists among the Chinese, and 
which can be played upon to almost any extent. Lists of con- 
tributions are kept in the larger temples, and the donors are 
expected to receive the worth of their money, through seeing 
their names posted in a conspicuous place, as subscribers of a 
certain sum. In some regions it is customary to set down the 
amount given as much larger than it really is, by a fiction 
equally agreeable to all concerned. Thus the donor of 250 
cash sees his name paraded as the subscriber of 1,000 cash, and 

136 



yiLLAGE TEMPLES AND RELIGIOUS SOQETIES 137 

SO throughout. These subscriptions to temples are in reality a 
loan to be repaid whenever the village subscribing finds itself in 
need of similar help, and the obligation will not be forgotten by 
the donors. 

It is seldom safe to generalize in regard to anything in China, 
but if there is one thing in regard to which a generalization 
would seem to be more safe than another, it would be the uni- 
versality of temples in every village throughout the empire. 
Yet it is an undoubted fact that there are, even in China, great 
numbers of villages which have no temple at all. This is true 
of all those which are inhabited exclusively by Mohammedans, 
who never take any part in the construction of such edifices, 
a peculiarity which is now well known and respected though at 
the first appearance of these strangers, it caused them many 
bitter struggles to establish their right to a monotheistic faith. 

The most ordinary explanation of a comparatively rare phe- 
nomenon of a village without a temple, is that the hamlet is a 
small one and cannot afford the expense. Sometimes it may 
have been due to the fact that there was no person of sufficient 
intelligence in the village to take the initial steps,\and as one 
generation is much influenced by what was done and what was 
not done in the generations that have passed, five hundred 
years may elapse without the building of a temple, simply be- 
cause a temple was not built five hundred years ago.\ In the 
very unusual cases where a village is without one, it is not be- 
cause they have no use for the gods ; for in such instances the 
villagers frequently go to the temples of the next village and 
** borrow their light," just as a poor peasant who cannot 
afford to keep an animal to do his plowing may get the loan of 
a donkey in planting time, from a neighbour who is better off. 

The two temples which are most likely to be found, though 
all others be wanting, are those of the local god, and of the god 
of war. The latter has been made much of by the present 
dynasty, and greatly promoted in the pantheon. The former is 
regarded as a kind of constable in the next world, and he is to 



138 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

be informed promptly on the death of an adult, that he may re- 
port to the city god (" Ch'eng Huang,") who in turn reports 
to Yen Wang, the Chinese Pluto. 

In case a village has no temple to the T'u-ti, or local god, 
news of the death is conveyed to him by wailing at the crossing 
of two streets, where he is supposed to be in ambush. 

Tens of thousands of villages are content with these tv/o tem- 
ples, which are regarded as almost indispensable. If the village 
is a large one, divided into several sections transacting their pub- 
lic business independently of one another, there may be several 
temples to the same divinity. It is a common saying, illustrative 
of Chinese notions on this topic, that the local god at one end 
of the village has nothing to do with the affairs of the other end 
of the village. 

When the temple has been built, if the managers have been 
prudent, they are not unlikely to have collected much more 
than they will use in the building. This surplus is used partly 
in giving a theatrical exhibition, to which all donors are invited 
— which is the only public way in which their virtue can be ac- 
knowledged — biit mainly in the purchase of land, the income 
of which shall support the temple priest. In this way, a temple 
once built is in a manner endowed, and becomes self-support- 
ing. The managers select some one of the donors, and appoint 
him a sort of president of the board of trustees, (called a ska7i 
c/iu, or "master of virtue "), and he is the person with whom 
the managers take account for the rent and use of the land. 
Sometimes a public school is supported from the income of the 
land, and sometimes this income is all gambled away by vicious 
priests, who have devices of their own to get control of the 
property to the exclusion of the villagers. When temples get 
out of repair, which, owing to their defective construction, is 
constantly the case, they must be rebuilt by a process similar to 
that by which they were originally constructed ; for in China 
there are as truly successive crops of temples as of turnips. 

There is no limit to the number of temples which a single 



VILLAGE TEMPLES AND RELIGIOUS SOOETIES 139 

village may be persuaded into building. Some villages of three 
hundred families have one to every ten families, but this must 
be an exceptional ratio. It is a common saying among the 
Chinese that the more temples a village has, the poorer it is, 
and also the worse its morals. But, on the other hand, the 
writer has heard of one village which has none at all, but which 
has acquired the nickname of '' Ma Family Thief Village." It 
seems reasonable to infer from the observed facts that, when 
they have fallen into comparative desuetude, temples are almost 
inert, so far as influence goes. But when filled with indolent 
and vicious priests, as is too often the case, they are baneful to 
the morals of any community. In the rural districts, it is com- 
paratively rare to find resident priests, for the reason that they 
cannot live from the scanty revenue, and a year of famine will 
starve them out of large districts. 

Temples that are a little distance from a village are a favourite 
resort of thieves, as a convenient place to divide their booty, 
and also are resting-places for beggars. To prevent this mis- 
use, it is common to see the door entirely bricked up, or per- 
haps a small opening may be left for the divinity to breathe 
through 1 

The erection of a temple is but the beginning of an inter- 
minable series of expenses ; for, if there is a priest, he must be 
paid for each separate service rendered, and will besides de- 
mand a tax in grain of every villager after the wheat and au- 
tumn harvests — exactions which often become burdensome in 
the extreme. In addition to this, minor repairs keep up an un- 
ceasing flow of money. If there is an annual chanting of 
sacred books (called ta chiao), this is also a heavy expense. 

Temples which are not much used are convenient receptacles 
for coffins, which have been prepared in the Chinese style be- 
fore they are needed, and also for the images of animals, made 
of reeds and paper, which are designed to be burnt at funer- 
als that they may be thus transported to the spirit world. If 
the temple has a farm attached, the divinities are quite likely 



140 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

to be obscured, in the autumn, by the crops which are hung up 
to dry all about and even over them ; for storage space under a 
roof is one of the commodities most rare in the village. 

The temples most popular in one region may be precisely 
those which are rarely seen in another, but next to those already 
named perhaps the most frequently honoured divinities are the 
Goddess of Mercy {Kuan Yin PHc So), some variety of the 
manifold goddess known as ''Mother" {Niang Niang), zxA 
Buddha. What is called the '' Hall of the Three Religions " 
{San Chiao T'ang), is one of the instructive relics of a time 
when the common proposition that the "three religions are 
really one " was not so implicitly received as now. In the Hall 
of the Three Religions, Confucius, Lao-tzu (the founder of 
Taoism, or Rationalism), and Buddha, all stand together on one 
platform ; but Buddha, the foreigner, is generally placed in the 
middle as the post of honour, showing that even to the Chinese 
the native forms of faith have seemed to be lacking in some- 
thing which Buddhism attempts to supply. This place has not 
been obtained, however, without a long struggle. 

Another form of genial compromise of rival claims, is what 
is called ''The Temple of All the gods " {Ch'uan shen mtao)y 
in which a great variety of deities are represented on a wall, 
but with no clear precedence of honour. Temples to the god 
of Literature, {Wen Ch^ang)^ are built by subscriptions of the 
local scholars, or by taxes imposed by the District Magistrate. 
It is impossible to arrive at any exact conclusions on the sub- 
ject, but it is probable that the actual cost of the temples, in 
almost any region in China, would be found to form a heavy 
percentage of the income of the people in the district. 




X 



XII 

COOPERATION IN RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 

'TpHE genius of the Chinese for combination' is nowhere 
. ■*- more conspicuous than in their societies which have a 
religious object. Widely as they differ in the special purposes 
to which they are devoted, they all appear to share certain 
characteristics, which are generally four in number — the con- 
tribution of small sums at definite intervals by many persons ; 
the superintendence of the finances by a very small number of 
the contributors ; the loan of the contributions at a high rate 
of interest, which is again perpetually loaned and re-loaned so 
as to accumulate compound interest in a short time and in large 
amounts ; and lastly, the employment of the accumulations in 
the religious observance for which the society was instituted, 
accompanied by a certain amount of feasting participated in by 
the contributors. 

A typical example of the numerous societies organized for re- 
ligious purposes may be found in one of those which have for 
their object a pilgrimage to some of the five sacred mountains 
of China. The most famous and most frequented of them all 
is the Great Mountain (T'ai Shan) in Shan-tung, which in the 
second month of the Chinese year is crowded with pilgrims 
from distant parts of the empire. For those who live at any 
considerable distance from this seat of worship, which accord- 
ing to Dr. Williamson is the most ancient historical mountain 
in the world, the expense of travel to visit the place is an ob- 
stacle of a serious character. To surmount this difficulty, so- 
cieties are organized which levy a tax upon each member, of 
(say) one hundred cash a month. If there are fifty members 
this would result in the collection of 5,000 cash as a first pay- 

141 



142 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

ment. The managers who have organized the society, pro- 
ceed to loan this amount to some one who is wilUng to pay for 
its use not less than two or three per cent, a month. Such 
loans are generally for short periods, and to those who are in 
the pressing need of financial help. When the time has ex- 
pired, and principal and interest is collected, it is again loaned 
out, thus securing a very rapid accumulation of capital. Suc- 
cessive loans at a high rate of interest for short periods, are re- 
peatedly effected during the three years, which are generally 
the limit of the period of accumulation. It constantly hap- 
pens that those who have in extreme distress borrowed such 
funds, find themselves unable to repay the loan when it is 
called in, and as benevolence to the unfortunate forms no part 
of the "virtue practice " of those who organize these societies, 
the defaulters are then obliged to pull down their houses or to 
sell part of their farms to satisfy the claims of the ** Mountain 
Society." Even thus it is not always easy to raise the sum re- 
quired, and in cases of this sort, the unfortunate debtor may 
even be driven to commit suicide. 

** Mountain Societies" are of two sorts, the '* Travelling," 
{hsing-shan hui^, and the " Stationary," (fso-shan hut'). The 
former lays plans for a visit to the sacred mountain, and for the 
offering of a certain amount of worship at the various temples 
there to be found. The latter is a device for accomplishing 
the principal results of the society, without the trouble and ex- 
pense of an actual visit to a distant and more or less inaccess- 
ible mountain peak. The recent repeated outbreaks of the 
Yellow River which must be crossed by many of the pilgrims 
to the Great Mountain, have tended greatly to diminish the 
number of " Travelling Societies," and to increase the number 
of the stationary variety. 

When the three years of accumulation have expired, the 
managers call in all the money, and give notice to the mem- 
bers who hold a feast. It is then determined at what date a 
theatrical exhibition shall be given, which is paid for by the ac- 



COOPERATION IN RELiaOUS OBSERVANCES 143 

cumulation of the assessments and the interest. If the mem- 
bers are natives of several different villages, a site may be 
chosen for the theatricals convenient for them all, but without 
being actually in any one of them. At other times the place is 
fixed by lot. 

During the performance of the theatricals, generally three 
days or four, the members of the society are present, and may 
be said to be their own guests and their own hosts. For the 
essential part of the ceremony is the eating, without which 
nothing in China can make the smallest progress. The mem- 
bers frequently treat themselves to three excellent feasts each 
day, and in the intervals of eating and witnessing theatricals, 
they find time to do more or less worshipping of an image of 
the mountain goddess {T^ai Shan niang-niang) at a paper 
"mountain," which by a simple fiction is held to be, for all 
intents and purposes, the real Great Mountain. While there 
does not appear to be any deeply-seated conviction that there is 
greater merit in actually going to the real mountain than in 
worshipping at its paper representative at home, this almost in- 
evitable feeling certainly does exist, and it expresses itself for- 
cibly in nicknaming the stationary kind " squatting and fatten- 
ing societies ' ' {tun-piao hid) . But while the Chinese are 
keenly alive to the inconsistencies and absurdities of their prac- 
tices and professions, they are still more sensible of the delights 
of compliance with such customs as they happen to possess, 
without a too close scrutiny of *' severe realities." The reli- 
gious societies of the Chinese, faulty as they are from whatever 
point of view, do at least satisfy many social instincts of the 
people, and are the media by which an inconceivable amount 
of wealth is annually much worse than wasted. It is a noto- 
rious fact, that some of those which have the largest revenues 
and expenditures, are intimately connected with gambling prac- 
tices. 

Many large fairs, especially those held in the spring, which is 
a time of comparative leisure, are attended by thousands of 



144 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

persons whose real motive is to gamble with a freedom and on 
a scale impossible at home. In some towns where such fairs 
are held, the principal income of the inhabitants is derived 
from the rent of their houses to those who attend the fair, and 
no rents are so large as those received from persons whose oc- 
cupation is mainly gambling. ■ These are not necessarily pro- 
fessional gamblers, however, tut simply country people who 
embrace this special opportunity to indulge their taste for risk- 
ing their hard-earned money. In all such cases it is necessary 
to spend a certain sum upon the underlings of the nearest ya- 
mSn, in order to secure immunity from arrest, but the profits to 
the keeper of the establishment (who generally does not gam- 
ble himself) are so great, that he can well afford all it costs. 
It is probably a safe estimate that as much money changes 
hands at some of the large fairs in the payment of gambling 
debts, as in the course of all the ordinary business arising from 
the trade with the tens of thousands of customers. In many 
places both men and women meet in the same apartments to 
gamble (a thing which would scarcely ever be tolerated at other 
times), and the passion is so consuming that even the clothes 
of the players are staked, the women making their appearance 
clad in several sets of trousers for this express purpose ! ) 

The routine acts of devotion to whatever god or goddess may 
be the object of worship are hurried through with, and both 
men and women spend the rest of their time struggling to con- 
quer fate at the gaming-table. It is not without a certain pro- 
priety, therefore, that such fairs are styled *< gambling fairs." 

The *' travelling" like the "sitting" society gathers in its 
money at the end of three years, and those who can arrange to 
do so, accompany the expedition which sets out soon after New 
Year for the Great Mountain. The expenses at the inns, as 
well as those of the carts employed, are defrayed from the com- 
mon fund, but whatever purchases each member wishes to 
make must be paid for with his own money. On reaching 
their destination, another in the long series of feasts is held, an 



COOPERATION IN RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES 145 

immense quantity of mock money is purchased and sent on in 
advance of the party, who are sure to find the six hundred 
steps of the sacred mount, (popularly supposed to be '< forty 
//" from the base to the summit), a weariness to the flesh. At 
whatever point the mock money is burnt, a flag is raised to 
denote that this end has been accomplished. By the time the 
party of pilgrims have reached this spot, they are informed 
that the paper has already been consumed long ago, the wily 
priests taking care that much the larger portion is not wasted 
by being burnt, but only laid aside to be sold again to other 
confiding pilgrims. 

If any contributor to the travelling society, or to any other 
of a like nature, should be unable to attend the procession to 
the mountain, or to go to the temple where worship is to be 
offered, his contribution is returned to him intact, but the in- 
terest he is supposed to devote to the virtuous object of the 
society, for he never sees any of it. 

The countless secret sects of China, are all of them examples 
of the Chinese talent for cooperation in the alleged ** practice 
of virtue." The general plan of procedure does not differ ex- 
ternally from that of a religious denomination in any Western 
land, except that there is an element of cloudiness about the 
basis upon which the whole superstructure rests, and great 
secrecy in the actual assembling at night. Masters and pupils, 
each in a graduated series, manuscript books containing doc- 
trines, hymns which are recited or even composed to order, 
prayers, offerings, and ascetic observances are traits which 
many of these sects share in common with other forms of reli- 
gion elsewhere. They have also definite assessments upon the 
members at fixed times without which, for lack of a motive 
power, no such society would long hold together. 



XIII 

COOPERATION IN MARKETS AND FAIRS 

TN many parts of China the farmer comes much nearer to in- 
-*- dependence as regards producing what he needs, than any 
class of persons in Western lands. This is especially the case 
where cotton is raised, and where each family tries to make its 
own clothing from its own crops. But even with the minute 
and indefatigable industry of the Chinese, this ideal can be 
only imperfectly reached. No poor family has land enough to 
raise all that it requires, and every family not poor has a multi- 
tude of wants which must of necessity be supplied from with- 
out. Besides this, in any district most families have very little 
reserve capital, and must depend upon meeting their wants as 
they arise, by the use of such means as can be secured from 
day to day. The same comparative poverty makes it necessary 
for a considerable part of the population to dispose of some 
portion of its surplus products at frequent intervals, so as to 
turn it into the means of subsistence. The combined effect of 
these various causes is to make the Chinese dependent upon 
local markets to an extent which is not true of inhabitants of 
Occidental countries. 

The establishment of any market, and even the mere exist- 
ence of the class of buyers and of sellers, doubtless involves a 
certain amount of cooperation. But Chinese markets while not 
differing materially from those to be found in other lands, ex- 
hibit a higher degree of cooperation than any others of which 
we know. This cooperation is exhibited in the selection both 
of the places and of the times at which the markets shall be 
held. The density of population varies greatly in different 
provinces, but there are vast tracts in which villages are to be 

146 



COOPERATION IN MARKETS AND FAIRS 147 

met at distances varying from a quarter of a mile to two or 
three miles, and many of these villages contain hundreds, and 
some of them thousands of families. 

At intervals of varying frequency, we hear of towns of still 
larger size than these called chen-tien^ or market towns, and in 
them there is sure to be a regular fair. But fairs are not con- 
fined to the chen-tietiy or the needs of the people would by no 
means be met. Many of the inferior villages also have a regu- 
lar market, frequented by the neighbouring population, in a 
circle of greater or smaller radius according to circumstances. 
As a rule a village seems to be proud of its fair, and the natives 
of such a place are no doubt saved a vast amount of travel for 
the number of people who do not attend a fair is small. 

We have met with one case of a village which once had a 
market, and gave it up in favour of another village, for the 
reason that the collection of such a miscellaneous assemblage 
was not for the advantage of the children and youth. 

The market is under the supervision of headmen of the 
town, and some markets are called ** official," because the 
headmen have communicated with the local magistrate, and 
have secured the issuing of a proclamation fixing the regula- 
tions under which business shall be transacted. This makes it 
easier to get redress for wrongs which may be committed by 
bad characters who abound at village markets in the direct ratio 
of the number of people assembled. Many of the larger 
markets bring together several thousand people, sometimes ex- 
ceeding ten thousand in number, and among so many there are 
certain to be numerous gamblers, sharpers, thieves, and pick- 
pockets, against whom it behoves every one to be upon his 
guard. It occasionally happens that a feud arises between two 
sets of villages, as for example over an embankment which one 
of them makes to restrain the summer floods, which would thus 
be turned toward the territory of the other villages. In such 
cases it is not uncommon for the parties to the quarrel to refuse 
to attend each other's markets, and in that case new ones will 



148 VELACE UFE IN CHINA 

be set up, with no reference to the needs of the territory, but 
with the sole purpose of breaking off all relations between 
neighbours. 

In regions where animals are employed for farm-work, all the 
laiger markets have attached to them "live-stock fairs," at 
which multitudes of beasts are constantly changing hands. It 
is common to find these hve-stock fairs under a sort of ofl&cial 
patronage, according to which the managers are allowed to 
levy a tax of perhaps one per cent, on the sales. Of this sum 
perhaps ten per cent, is required by the local Commissioner of 
Education (hsiao-Ii^ for the purpose of supporting his establish- 
ment. The rest will be under the control of the village head- 
men, perhaps for the nominal purpose of pajing the expenses 
of a free school, the funds for which not improbably find their 
way largely or whoUy into the private treasuries of those who 
manage the pubhc affairs of the >'illage. 

The times at which village markets are held vary greatly. 
In large cities there is a market every day, but in country 
places this would involve a waste of time. Sometimes the 
market takes place every other day, and sometimes on every 
day the numeral of which is a multiple of three. A took 
common arrangement however seems to be that which is based 
upon the division of the lunar month into thirty days. In this 
case "one market " signifies the space of five da}3, or the in- 
terval between two successive markets. It is in the establish- 
ment of these markets that cooperation is best illustrated, li a 
market is held every five da}'s, it will occur six times every 
moon, for if the month happens to be a ** small" one of 
twenty-nine days, the market that belongs on the thirtieth is 
held on the following day, which is the first of the next month. 
The various markets will be designated by the da}^ on which 
they occur, as " One-Six," meaning the market which is held 
evoy first, sixth, eleventh, sixteenth, twenty-first, and twenty- 
sixth day of the moon. In like manner "Four-Nine," de- 
notes the market attended on the fourth, ninth, fourteenth, 



fe^ll 




Going to Market. 




Chinese Market Scene. 



COOPERATION IN MARKETS J4ND FAIRS 149 

nineteenth, twenty-fourth, twenty-ninth days, similarly with the 
rest. Every village will probably have a market within reach 
every day in the month, that is to say, every day in the year. 
In one direction for example is to be found a "One-Six" 
market, in another " Two-Seven," in still others a "Three- 
Eight," a "Four-Nine," and a "Five-Ten." Some of these 
will be small markets, and some much larger, but the largest 
one will be attended by customers, especially wholesale dealers 
in cotton, cloth, etc., from great distances. The Chinese make 
nothing of walking to a market three, eight, or even ten miles 
away ; for it is not a market only, but a kind of general ex- 
change, where it is proverbially likely that any one will meet 
any one else. 

Every village being thus surrounded with a ring of markets, 
each of these is also a cog in a wheel, playing into other wheels 
on each side of it. All those who attend a large market come 
to have a wide acquaintance with persons for great distances on 
each side of them, and the needs of all persons both buyers and 
sellers are adequately met. 

The word which we have translated "market" (chi^ denotes 
merely a gathering, and another character, {hui^ is reserved 
for an assemblage of a much larger character, which is properly 
a fair. The number of persons who attend these fairs frequently 
rises to between ten and twenty thousand, giving a stranger the 
impression that the entire population of several counties must 
have been turned loose at once. Fairs are to be found in the 
largest Chinese cities, as well as in towns of every grade down 
even to small hamlets, though the proportion of towns and 
villages which support a fair is always a small one. It appears 
to be a general truth that by far the larger part of these large 
fairs owe their existence to the managers of some temple. The 
end in view is the accumulation of a revenue for the use of the 
temple, which is accomplished by levying certain taxes upon 
the traffic, and by the collection of a ground-rent. The latter 
is also a feature of the village market, the proprietor of each 



ijo VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

bit of ground appearing at each market to collect of the persons 
who have occupied his land, either a fixed amount, or a per- 
centage upon their sale or supposed sales. 

In the larger centres of population, it is common to find fairs 
held for a month or more at a time, and in some places there 
are several of these fairs every year, forming the centres of ac- 
tivity around which all the life of the place revolves. In such 
places the inhabitants make a good profit by renting buildings 
to the multitudes who come from a distance to sell and to buy, 
and where this is the case, when the fair is not in operation the 
city frequently appears to be nearly extinct. But trade no 
sooner begins, than countless thousands throng the lately almost 
deserted streets. 

In order to make a fair a success, it is necessary that the 
managers should be men of enterprise and of sufficient business 
ability to deal with the many difficulties which are likely to 
arise. They exercise a certain supervision over everything, and 
are technically responsible for what goes wrong, though this 
responsibility they frequently evade. In order to attract a large 
attendance, it is generally necessary for fairs which are to last 
four days, to begin with a theatrical representation, which con- 
tinues till the close. Sometimes, however, the players fail to 
appear, and in that case the whole fair may come to nothing. 
These large fairs are attended by merchants representing cities 
many hundred miles distant, and dealing in every article which 
is likely to attract customers. 

As the means of transportation are very inadequate and loco- 
motion is always slow and difficult, the merchants who go 
about from one fair to another for many months of the year, 
lead a life, or rather an existence, which is far from enviable. 
The half-month holiday with which the Chinese year begins is 
no sooner over than the large fairs begin also, and they con- 
tinue with intermissions throughout the rest of the year. There 
is a brief interval for the wheat harvest, an event of the great- 
est importance to every class of the population, and the rainy 



COOPERATION IN MARKETS AND FAIRS 151 

season generally causes another interruption, often so serious a 
one as to upset all plans for two months or more. 

The principal cooperative element in fairs lies in so arranging 
them as to dovetail into one another with least loss of time to 
the travelling merchants. The success generally attained is 
offset by many conspicuous failures, due to the Chinese thirst 
for gaining advantage over rivals, irrespective of the interests of 
others, which in matters involving cooperation, often results in 
disappointment. Thus, it is not uncommon to find that while 
the posters announcing a fair have been put up all through the 
country-side for an entire month, no one can tell when it is 
really to begin. That the day for beginning is ''fixed" is a 
point of no consequence whatever, for with the exception of 
eclipses nothing in China is so ''fixed " that it is not subject 
to alteration, and this exception may be thought to be due to 
the circumstance that eclipses are not under the supervision of 
the Chinese. We have known repeated instances in which 
persons who wished to attend a large fair, the date of which 
has been "fixed" for generations, have travelled many miles 
at great inconvenience, once and again, only to find that it was 
delayed owing to the fact that nobody had come, every one 
being apparently engaged in waiting for every one else. But 
infelicities like this are universal and constant in China, where 
punctuality is "a lost art." 



XIV 

COOPERATIVE LOAN SOCIETIES 

A MONG the most characteristic examples of Chinese capac- 
-^"^ ity for combination, are Loan Societies, which seem 
everywhere to abound. The object of these organizations is 
the same as that of similar associations elsewhere, but it may be 
doubted whether the Chinese methods of procedure are not 
unique. As in everything else Chinese, with a general simi- 
larity, there is such divergence in detail, that it is sometimes 
very difficult for natives of one district, even to comprehend 
the rules of the Loan Societies of other and perhaps adjoining 
counties. 

The reasons for the extensive organization of these societies, 
are those to which attention has been repeatedly called. Every 
Chinese has constant occasion to use money in sums which it is 
very difficult for him to command. The rate of interest is 
always so high, that a man who is compelled to borrow a con- 
siderable amount, upon which he must pay interest at two and 
a half, three, or even four per cent, a month, will not improb- 
ably be swamped by the endeavour to keep up with his cred- 
itors, a fact of which everyday experience furnishes countless 
examples. By distributing the payments over a long period, 
and by the introduction of an element of friendship into a 
merely commercial transaction,^ the Chinese is able to achieve 
the happy result of uniting business with pleasure. Of the 
measure of success attained we may be better able to judge, 
after an examination of the processes pursued. 

The simplest of the many plans by which mutual loans are 
effected, is the contribution of a definite sum by each of the mem- 
bers of the society in rotation to some other one of their number. 

»5 



COOPERATIVE LOAN SOQETIES 153 

When all the rest have paid their assessment to the last man on 
the list, each one will have received back all that he put in and 
no more. The association is called in some places the " Club 
of the Seven Worthies " ( Ch^i hsien hut). The technical name 
for any association of the kind in which cooperation is most con- 
spicuous, is She. The man who is in need of money {She-chu) 
invites certain of his friends to cooperate with him, and in 
turn to invite some of their friends to do the same. When the 
requisite number has been secured, the members {She-yu), as- 
semble and fix the order in which each shall have the use of 
the common fund. This would probably be decided by lot. 
Unless the amount in question is a very trifling one, every 
meeting of the members for business purposes will be accom- 
panied with a feast attended by all the partners, and paid for 
either by the one for whose benefit the association was organ- 
ized, or by the person whose turn it is to use the common fund. 
At the first feast, given by the organizer of the association, 
each of the members attends provided with the sum agreed 
upon, let us suppose 10,000 cash, which is paid over to the 
headman, 60,000 cash in all, to be used by him, for a certain 
fixed period, say a year. The next year, the feast is given by 
the person who drew the second lot; the headman puts 10,000 
cash into the treasury, and each of five other members the same 
sum, all of which is paid over to number three, who in like 
manner employs it for a year, when in the same way the fourth 
takes his turn. v^At the end of six years each of the seven 
members will have had a turn, each will have received 60,000 
cash without interest, and each will have paid out 60,000 cash 
for which he has likewise received no interest. Each one will 
have been accommodated with the handling of a larger sum 
than he could have otherwise obtained, at the end each one has 
lost nothing in money, but has had six more or less excellent 
feasts, a matter from a Chinese point of view of some practical 
importance, however lightly it might be esteemed by a West- 
erner.! 



154 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

It would seem that the simple form of cooperative borrow- 
ing here described, is by no means so common as some of the 
various societies in which interest is paid, and it is not perhaps 
surprising that this should be the case. The Chinese are so 
much in the habit of paying an extortionate sum for the use of 
the money of others, that it doubtless appears to the average 
borrower that if he has exacted a high interest, he has made a 
better bargain than if he had received no interest at all, al- 
though he must eventually pay out just as much interest as he 
receives, and is demonstrably no better off at the final pay- 
ment than if he had borrowed and lent, disregarding interest 
altogether. 

The methods of societies which exact interest for loans, differ 
greatly in every detail, and there is evidently no limit to the 
variations which local custom may adopt in any particular dis- 
trict. In some regions the ordinary number of members ap- 
pears to be sixteen as in the case just supposed. In others, the 
number rises to thirty or even more. Sometimes the meetings 
are held annually, in other districts the usual rule is semi- 
annual meetings, in the second and eighth moons. In societies 
where the rate of interest is fixed, the only thing to be decided 
by lot, or by throwing dice, will be the order in v/hich the 
members draw out the common fund. This may not improb- 
ably be determined at the first meeting, each member taking 
his turn in accordance with the excellence or otherwise of his 
throws with the dice. But if, as often happens, the interest is 
left open to competition, this competition may take place by a 
kind of auction, each one announcing orally what he is willing 
to pay for the use of the capital for one term, the highest bid- 
der taking the precedence, but no member ever has a second 
turn. If the oral method of competition is not used, a still 
better plan may be adopted. This consists of prepared slips, 
like ballots, noting an offer of interest, deposited by each mem- 
ber in a box, the highest bidder getting the precedence, and in 
case of like amounts offered by different bidders a second bal- 



COOPERATIVE LOAN SOQETIES 155 

lot to decide who will add the most to his previous offer. It is 
easy to see that in this way, the interest to be paid might not 
be the same for any two loans, in which case there would seem 
to be inevitable some complexity in the accounts. But for the 
most part, the Chinese appear to take involved computations of 
this nature with surprising facility, especially considering the 
limited practice in mathematics which most of them have en- 
joyed. 

For the sake of greater simplicity, we will take a case in 
which the interest for each period is assumed to be one-fifth of -^? 
the principal, in which the number of members is ten, besides 
the organizer of the society, and in which the amount loaned 
by each member is 10,000 cash. It is also assumed that in 
this case the headman for whose benefit the lending was begun, 
does not repay the loan in money, but only in spreading at 
each meeting a feast of specially good quality. The interest 
is of the nature of a "bank discount,") and is therefore col- 
lected in advance, the only certain way, it may be remarked, 
to collect it at all. , Each man, it will be observed, with the 
exception of the first, actually receives only 8,000 cash, but re- 
pays to each Oiie who follows him in drawing, a full 10,000. 
The result will be best seen in a tabulated form, as follows : 

(The headman makes the feast only, but does not repay the 
loan.) 

The headman receives from each member 10,000 cash (ten 
strings) 10 X 10 = 100. 

Number 



2 


receives 


9X8= ... 72 


3 




8 X 8 = 64 + 10 = 74 


4 




7 X 8 = 56 + 20 = 76 


5 




6 X 8 = 48 + 30 = 78 


6 




5 X 8 = 40 4- 40 = 70 


7 




4 X 8=32+50=82 


8 




3 X 8 = 24 -f 60 = 84 


9 




2 X 8 = 16 -j- 70 = 86 


10 




1X8= 8 + 80 = 88 



II " 9 Xio = ... 90 



156 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

In the following modification of the plan of loan, the head- 
man pays back his loan, like the other members, and also pro- 
vides each feast, which is regarded as his interest. 

Headman receives 10 X 10 strings = 100 



mb( 


ir 2 




9 X 8 = 72 + 10 = 82 




3 




8 X 8 = 64 + 20 = 84 




4 




7 X 8 == 56 + 30 = 86 




5 




6 X 8 = 48 4- 40 = 88 




6 




5 X 8 = 40 -f 50 = 90 




7 




4 X 8 = 32 -|- 60 = 92 




8 




3 X 8 = 24 + 70 = 94 




9 




2 X 8 = 16 4- 80 = 96 




10 




1X8= 8 -f 90 = 98 




II 




10 Xio = 100 



In these examples it will be observed that the earlier each 
member draws his money, the less he gets on his investment. 
In the case last supposed, the final recipient, who has no inter- 
est to pay, but who receives interest from all but the headman, 
gets back all his money in a lump, with interest upon it. As 
already remarked, for the sake of simplicity we have disre- 
garded the actual time for which the money is loaned, and for 
convenience have assumed a rate of interest which would prob- 
ably be below the real one. It is evident that so far as financial 
considerations go, taken by themselves, it is for the advantage 
of the partners to come as late in the drawing as possible. But 
it is far from being the case that financial considerations are the 
only matters to be taken into account. The man who needs 
money, and who can never be sure of getting as much as he 
needs upon any better terms than these, will gladly take it as 
soon as he can get it, arranging the wedding for which he per- 
haps wishes to employ it, to suit the time of the loan. 

Like other human contrivances, Chinese loan societies are to 
be judged by their results. The practical operation of these 
organizations often presents an instructive view of many aspects 
of Chinese life. The man for whose benefit the society is got 



COOPERATIVE LOAN SOCIETIES 157 

together does not find that others are hungering and thirsting 
to do him a good turn, unless they clearly see their way to re- 
cover what they put in, with liberal interest. It is therefore 
often necessary to use a great deal of persuasion, to induce one 
to join, and especially to persuade him to bring in others. No 
one is willing to enter into a society of this kind unless it is 
reasonably certain that every member will meet every assess- 
ment, for if any individual fails to pay, everything is at a dead- 
lock. To guard against this, it is customary to have security, 
or bondsmen, in some instances the headman acting as bail for 
all the rest. In case of failure on the part of any member to 
meet his payment, the headman is then required to pay the 
amount lacking, and this he is of course very unwilling to do, 
however freely he has engaged to do so. Troubles of this na- 
ture lead to many fights, and if this extreme measure is not re- 
sorted to, it is not at all unlikely that the person technically 
responsible will try the familiar method of begging off, striving 
to induce a creditor to accept a k'o-t'ou in place of cash. If 
sufficient pressure can be brought to bear in favour of any de- 
faulting member, this plan may succeed in its object, as well as 
in breaking up the loan society. 

Where the number is enlarged to more than a score, as in 
some districts, the probability that some one will fail to meet 
his obligations is greatly increased. It is also a fatal objection 
to these long loans, that before the whole term of years elapses, 
it is morally certain that something will occur to disturb the 
very unstable financial equilibrium of the members. For in- 
stance, the T'ai-p^ing rebellion, with its long train of sorrows, 
and the continual famines and floods of later years in Northern 
China, have tended to bring loan societies into discredit, be- 
cause experience has shown that thousands of persons have put 
into them what could never be recovered. It is the almost 
unanimous testimony of the Chinese whom the writer has con- 
sulted on the subject, that in these days such societies fail to 
accomplish their uses, and are little better than a fraud. 



158 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Whether a man loses by them, or not, will depend, however, 
mainly on his own skill in keeping out of those which are un- 
safe, regardless of the pressure which may be brought to bear 
upon him. Some men will tell you that they have been part- 
ners several times and have never lost their capital, or only lost 
it once, while others have a totally different account to give. 

A Chinese whose easy-going disposition made him a valuable 
neighbour to those who wished to borrow without being at the 
inconvenience of repaying, stated that he had been six times a 
member of a loan society, and while once the capital had been 
doubled by a fortunate speculation, on each of the five other 
occasions he had lost all, or nearly all, put in. That such ex- 
periences are far from being uncommon, is testified by a cur- 
rent adage, to the effect that if a man has been in a loan soci- 
ety with another three separate times, if he has not been 
cheated, he has at least been robbed ! 

After the foregoing account of Cooperative Loan Societies 
was written, a suit was reported in the Hong Kong papers, which 
well serves to illustrate the legal difficulties which seem to puzzle 
not only the lawyers, but apparently the Judges also, for the case 
which was first heard in July, came on for another hearing upon 
appeal the next January, and was not decided until the follow- 
ing March. There were four plaintiffs and four defendants. It 
appeared that twelve men decided to form a Money Loan Asso- 
ciation, one of them being trustee, and taking up the subscrip- 
tions. Each member undertook to pay ^^50 per month, by 
which a sum of $600 would be made up. Each month the 
members were to meet at a dinner, paid for by each of the 
members in turn, and at these dinners tenders were received 
for the fund of $600, the member offering the highest interest 
getting the *'pool," less the amount of interest. After the 
association had run for eight months, the headman or trustee 
failed in business, disappeared, and the association came to an 
end. 

The four persons who had paid money into the association 



COOPERATll^E lOyiN SOCIETIES 159 

for eight months, and who had received no benefit, sued the 
other four members who had ceased to pay their subscriptions 
after the failure in business of the trustee. The defence was 
that the only person responsible was this trustee, and that all 
the sums claimed had been paid to him by the defendants. 
The Acting Chief Justice, who heard the case, was of the 
opinion that the subscriptions not paid were due, and that the 
trustee had no authority from the other members to receive be- 
forehand any contributions, and the Justice accordingly gave 
judgment for the plaintiffs. 

The case was appealed, and counsel stated upon its coming 
up that it was appealed on a question of law. He related the 
circumstances of the case, and maintained that there was 
no contract between either of the plaintiffs and the four defend- 
ants jointly or severally, that they would pay a sum of ;^2oo. 
The only contract proved and shown, was a contract that each 
of the members would contribute to a common fund which he 
might not get in the first instance, but which he was certain to 
get some time. He therefore submitted that there was no con- 
tract at common law on which this action could be maintained, 
and that there was absolutely no means of deciding the issues 
in such a case. 

To this statement, the opposing counsel replied by admitting 
that there was a certain amount of difficulty in working out the 
scheme as a whole, yet unless their Lordships held that these 
men were liable in this case, the prosecutors were practically 
deprived of any remedy at all. He submitted that this was 
against the whole intention of the association, which was in a 
certain sense for profit, for the mutual help of its members, and 
the common good of all. To hold that no action was main- 
tainable individually, would be holding out a premium for dis- 
honesty, because the man who got the first payment would then 
leave the Colony. 

At this point the Justice remarked that this was what very 
often happened. In delivering his opinion, the Justice said 



i6o VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

that he thought the case was a claim for money lent, but it had 
been treated as a claim for the return of ^50 from each of the 
defendants in respect of a money loan association. At the 
trial the defendants had denied that they had made any con- 
tract with the plaintiffs, and referred to the fact that certain 
meetings of the association had been held, and that the other 
meetings had not been regularly called in accordance with the 
articles of association. That being so, he held that there 
was no contract between the various members of the associa- 
tion, which would enable one member to sue another, and 
therefore he decided in favour of the appellants. 

The Puisne Judge said that the contract entered into, was 
either one between the defendants and one of the plaintiffs, or 
else it was a mutual contract between the defendants, and the 
other members of the association. In the first case the plain- 
tiffs could not recover, and if it was a mutual contract between 
all the members of the association, there ought to be a suit in 
equity to ascertain what were the various rights of the parties, 
and all the members of the association must be parties to that 
action. And so he also gave judgment in favour of the ap- 
pellants, with costs. The money which had been paid into 
court, pending the appeal, would be paid out. 

Whoever takes the trouble to follow these arguments, and the 
facts upon which they rest, ought to be convinced of several 
propositions : that it is very easy to make arrangements to pay 
out money to Chinese ; that it is very easy not to get that 
money back again ; that when there is a hitch in the intricate 
business of adjustment, it is not unlikely to take all the lawyers 
and Judges of a Crown Colony nine months to find out the 
law and equity, and that when the case has been decided it is 
difficult for an ordinary mortal to judge whether the decision 
was right or wrong ! 



XV 

SOCIETIES FOR WATCHING THE CROPS 

TN a country where the poor are in such a majority as in 
-*• China, and where the fields are altogether open, it is de- 
sirable if not necessary to have some plan by which property so 
unprotected can be effectively watched. In every orchard, as 
soon as the fruit begins to show the smallest sign of ripeness, 
the owner keeps some of his family on guard day and night, un- 
til the last apricot, plum or pear is removed from the trees. 
The darker and the more rainy the night, the more is vigilance 
required, so that a family with a bearing orchard is under the 
most absolute bondage to this property for a part of every year. 
During the months of July and August the fields are dotted 
with little booths some of them overrun with climbing vines, 
and each of these frail tenements is never for a moment de- 
serted until the crops have all been removed. In some regions 
the traveller will observe these huts built upon a lofty staging 
so as to command a wide view, and they are often put up even 
in fields of sorghum, which would not seem likely to be 
stolen. But the lofty growth of this stalwart plant is itself a 
perfect protection to a thief, so that it is much more difficult 
to watch than crops far less elevated from the ground. Grow- 
ing to an altitude of from ten to fifteen feet, it completely ob- 
scures the horizon, and practically obliterates all landmarks. 
So far as knowing where one goes, a traveller might as well be 
plunged into an African jungle. Even the natives of a region 
sometimes get lost within a few // of their own village on a 
cloudy day. The autumn crops of Shan-tung consist of the 
innumerable kinds of millet, sorghum, (which, though called 
"tall millet," has no affinity with real millet;) beans; Indian 

i6i 



i62 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

corn, or maize ; peanuts ; melons and squashes ; sweet-potatoes 
and other vegetables (the others mostly in small patches); 
hemp ; sesame ; and especially cotton. There are many other 
items, but these are the chief. 

Of all these diverse sorts of produce, there are hardly more 
than two which do not cause the owners anxiety, lest they be 
stolen from the field. The heads of sorghum and of millet are 
easily clipped off. Nothing is easier than rapidly to despoil a 
field of corn, or to dig sweet-potatoes. The latter, indeed, are 
not safe from the village dogs, which have learned by ages of 
experience that raw vegetable food is much better than no food 
at all. What requires the most unceasing vigilance, however, 
are the melon patches and the orchards. Of watermelons, 
especially, the Chinese are inordinately fond. Every field is 
fitted with a *' lodge in a garden of cucumbers," and there is 
some one watching day and night. The same is true of the 
"fruit rows," familiarly called hang-tzu. Birds, insects, and 
man are the immitigable foes of him who has apples, pears, 
peaches, plums, cherries, apricots and grapes. If the orchard 
is of any size, there may be collusion between the thieves, who 
appear at both ends at once. Both sets cannot be pursued. 
The crows and the blue-jays are the worst bird robbers, but 
they can be scared off, especially with a gun. The human pil- 
ferers are not to be so easily dealt with. The farmer's hope is 
that seeing that some one is on guard they will go elsewhere, 
and steal from those not on guard. Hence everybody is obliged 
to stand guard over everything. 

Where the population is densest, the extent to which this 
must be carried passes belief. In such regions about dusk an 
exodus sets forth from a village like that in the early morning 
to go to the fields to work. By every path the men, women, 
and even children stream forth. Light wooden beds, covered 
with a layer of the stiff sorghum stalk, are kept out in the fields 
for constant use. A few sorghum stalks are twisted together at 
the top, and a piece of old matting tacked on the sunny side, 




Crop-Watcher'-, Lodge. 








-^i- 



Reaping Millet. 



SOCIETIES FOR IVATCHING THE CROPS 163 

and under such a wretched shelter sits a toothless old woman 
all day and all night with alternations. 

Very few farmers have their land all in one plot. A farm of 
not more than eighty Chinese acres may consist of from five to 
fifteen pieces lying on different sides of the village. And how 
do you contrive to "watch all these all night" ? you inquire. 
'* Oh we have to go from one to the other," you are told. In 
the case of cotton, the temptation to pick that of others is ab- 
solutely irresistible. The watchman sees some one at the end 
of the field meandering slowly along with a basket on his arm, 
picking cotton as he goes. The watchman yells, " Who are 
you? " and the figure moves along a little faster, but does not 
stop picking. If he disappears into the patch of some one else, 
that is success. But should the watchman become angry, as he 
certainly will, and should he pursue, as he is likely to do, and 
should he overtake, as is possible, then the trouble begins. 
Should the thief not get away in the scuffle, he ought to be 
taken before the village headmen and dealt with. If from an- 
other village, he probably will be tied up in the village temple, 
possibly beaten, and subsequently released upon payment of a 
fine. But the real difficulty is that many of the thieves are 
from the same village as the owners of the land the products of 
which they are appropriating. Not improbably they are 
"cousins" of the farmer himself. Perhaps they are his 
"uncles" or even his "grandfathers." If so, that compli- 
cates matters very much. Chinese ideas of meum and tuum 
are to our thought laxity itself under the most favourable con- 
ditions. But these conditions are the most unfavourable. The 
unity of the family is as that of a compound individual. 

It is to afford some relief from these almost insupportable 
evils that societies for watching the crops have originated. 
They are by no means of universal occurrence, but like most 
other Chinese institutions, are to be met with in some districts, 
while others immediately adjoining may be wholly unacquainted 
with their working. We have known a District Magistrate in 



i64 . VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

trying a case in which one of the defendants was a professional 
watcher of the crops, to be completely mystified by the term 
''crop-watcher " which had to be explained to him, as if to a 
foreigner, although he was himself a native of an adjacent 
province. 

The villages which have entered into some one of the associ- 
ations for the protection of their crops, generally proclaim this 
fact by painting or whitewashing upon the side of some con- 
spicuous temple four ch3ira.cters (Xt/ng k' an i J^'o,) signifying 
that the fields are looked after in common. This proposition 
embodies a meaning which varies in different places. Some- 
times it denotes that a certain number of persons are on guard 
each night, in which case the number (or some number which 
purports to be the real one) will perhaps be found posted on a 
temple wall with a view to striking awe into intending depre- 
dators (in case they should be persons of education), by show- 
ing how numerous are the chances of detection. 

When a fixed number of persons is employed, the expense is 
shared by the village, being in fact a tax upon the land, paid 
in the direct ratio of the amount of land which each one owns. 
In other cases the arrangement for guarding standing crops is 
entered into by a single village, or more probably by a consid- 
erable number of contiguous villages. The details are agreed 
upon at a meeeting called for the purpose in some temple con- 
venient to all the villages, and the meeting is attended by rep- 
resentatives of each village interested. At this meeting are 
settled the steps to be taken in case of the arrest of offenders. 
This is a matter of supreme importance, being in fact the pivot 
upon which the whole machinery turns. If there is weakness 
here, the whole machine will be a failure. 

It must be borne in mind that the reason for the organization 
of such a society as this is the fact that so many poor people 
ever)rwhere exist, whose only resource is to steal. In the con- 
sultations preliminary to the organization of a crop-protecting 
league, the poor people of the various villages concerned have 



SOCIETIES FOR H^^TCHING THE CROPS 165 

no voice, but they must be considered, for they will contrive to 
make themselves felt in many disagreeable ways. It will be 
agreed that any person owning land in any village belonging to 
the league is bound to seize and report any person whatever 
whom he may find stealing the crops of any person in any of 
these villages. But as this is the weakest point of all such 
agreements among the Chinese, it is further provided that if 
any person finds some one stealing and fails to seize and re- 
port the offender, and if the fact of this omission is ascer- 
tained, the person guilty of such omission shall be held to be 
himself guilty of the theft, and shall be fined as if he were the 
thief. 

To provide an adequate tribunal to take cognizance of cases 
of this sort, the representatives of the several villages concerned, 
in public assembly nominate certain headmen from each vil- 
lage, who constitute a court before which offenders are to be 
brought, and by which fines are to be fixed. When a thief is 
captured he is brought to the village, and the men appointed 
for the purpose are summoned, who hear the report of the cap- 
tors, and decide upon the fine. In cases of special importance 
the village gong may be beaten, so as to collect the headmen 
with the greater celerity. Much will depend upon what kind 
of a man the culprit is, and upon the status of the family to 
which the culprit belongs may be. There are some well-to-do 
people who are not above stealing the crops of others, and such 
persons are certain to be subjected to a heavy fine by way of ''ex- 
emplary damages." The select-men who manage these cases 
have no regular way of punishing offenders but by the infliction 
of a fine, though culprits are undoubtedly sometimes tied up 
and beaten by exasperated neighbours, as the v/riter at one time 
happened to see for himself. But such cases must be relatively 
rare. The fines imposed must be paid immediately, and should 
this be refused or delayed, the penalty would be an accusation 
at the yamSn of the District Magistrate, which being backed by 
all the principal men of the village, or of a group of villages, 



i66 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

would be certain to issue in the punishment of the prisoner, as 
the Magistrate would be sure to assume that a prosecution of 
this nature was well grounded. The poorest man would have 
reason to dread being locked up in a cangue for a month or 
two at the busy time of harvest, when it is especially important 
for him to be at liberty. 

The coloured resident of Georgia who complained that a 
black man had no chance in that State, being obliged ** to 
work hard all day and steal all night in order to make an hon- 
est living," represented a class to be found in all parts of China, 
and a class which must be taken into account. Wherever ar- 
rangements are made for the protection of the crops from 
thieves, it is a necessary adjunct of the rules that the owners of 
the fields must follow the judicious plan of Boaz of ancient 
Bethlehem, who ordered his reapers not to be too careful to 
gather closely, that the gleaners might not glean in vain. 
Matters of this sort, even to the length of the stubble which 
shall be left in the fields, are not infrequently the subject of 
agreement and of regulation, for they are matters of large im- 
portance to many poor people. 

In districts where the kao-liang (or sorghum) plant is culti- 
vated it is common to strip off some of the lower leaves with 
a view, as one is told, to allowing the stalks '^ to breathe " more 
freely that the grain may ripen better. Where this practice 
prevails, the day on which the stripping of the leaves shall be- 
gin is sometimes strictly regulated by agreement, and no per- 
son, rich or poor, is allowed to anticipate the day. But on 
that day any one is at liberty to strip leaves from the fields of 
any one else, provided he does not go above the stipulated 
height on each plant. These leaves are much prized as food 
for animals. The day before the stripping of kao-liang leaves 
is to begin, warning is sounded on the village gong, and the 
next day all the people make this their main business. 

Far more important than leaf-stripping is the regulation of 
the gleaning of cotton. In many parts of China, the cotton 



SOCIETIES FOR IVATCHING THE CROPS 167 

crop is the most valuable product of the soil, and it enjoys the 
distinction of being perhaps the only article raised in the em- 
pire which is to every man, woman and child an absolute 
necessity. As soon as the cotton-picking season sets in, women 
and children in the regions where this is the staple crop are ab- 
sorbed in this fatiguing labour to the exclusion of almost every- 
thing else. With the first frost falls, the best of the season has 
passed, though the cotton balls continue to open for a long time 
afterward. It is considered to be the prerogative of the poor 
people to pick cotton wherever they can find it after a certain 
(or rather a very uncertain) date, and the determination of this 
date is settled in some districts by a proclamation of the Magis- 
trate himself, for no lesser authority would be heeded. But in 
other regions this affair, like most others, is altogether relegated 
to local agreement, either of a single village, or a group of vil- 
lages with each other. The day upon which it first becomes 
lawful to pick indiscriminately in any cotton field, a joyful one 
for the poor, is called ''relaxation of punishment," because the 
fines are no longer to be enforced. At this time swarms of peo- 
ple are to be seen streaming to the fields, and many people go 
great distances from home, because the picking there is better. 
An acquaintance of the writer remarked that his wife had been 
gone from home for more than ten days gleaning in some region 
where the crops were better than nearer home, sleeping mean- 
time in any doorway or cart-house from which she was not 
driven away. 

It sometimes happens that the rich people attempt to exclude 
the poor from the large estates belonging to the former, but 
this is seldom successful, and can never be good policy. The 
writer once saw a dispute between the owner of a large cotton- 
field and many hundred poor women and children who were 
about to precipitate themselves upon the remnants of the crop. 
Even while the debate as to the proprieties of the case was in 
progress, a very large number of the poor people who cared 
much more for the cotton than for the proprieties, pressed on 



1 68 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

to gather what they might, leaving others to settle the question 
of abstract right as pleased themselves. 

Reference has been repeatedly made to the fines imposed for 
a violation of the village laws or agreements, and it was re- 
marked that the crucial point of the protection of crops, is found 
here. It is customary to employ the fines collected from such 
offenders for the purpose of hiring a theatrical company, which 
always proves to be a very expensive method of enjoying a sur- 
plus of money, since the incidental expenses of a theatrical rep- 
resentation, especially in the entertainment of guests, are often 
ten times greater than the sum paid to the players. 

Spending the night in the fields during the harvest season, 
when the ground is generally saturated with moisture, con- 
stantly induces malaria, rheumatism and pneumonia, as well as 
many other ailments. But the necessity is imperative, and all 
risks must be disregarded, or there would be nothing to eat for 
a year. The quarrels which inevitably arise from crop pilfer- 
ing and the other concomitants of an autumn harvest, give rise 
to serious feuds, as well as to devastating lawsuits, the money 
cost of which may be a thousand times the value of the prop- 
erty in question. But under such conditions every Chinese 
crop is gathered in year by year, and such have apparently 
been perpetuated from the earliest dawn of Chinese history. 



XVI 

VILLAGE AND CITY RAIN-MAKING 

TT is one of the eccentricities of the Chinese, that although 
■^ they have developed elaborate philosophies, none of them 
have led them to confidence in the uniformity of nature. 
Polytheism has no basis for such a view. Thus it comes about 
that in an empire which is one of the most conspicuous ex- 
amples of homogeneity the world has ever seen, neither the 
people nor their rulers have any fixed opinions as to the causes 
upon which the rain-fall depends. In the province of Shan- 
tung a great variety of beings real and imaginary are wor- 
shipped to cause the fall of water to adjust itself to the needs of 
the farmers. Among the divinities thus honoured are the God- 
dess of Mercy who in the south of China is generally regarded 
as male ; the God of War ; the Dragon God, or Lung Wang ; 
and a Tai Wang, which is popularly supposed to be incarnated 
in a serpent, frequently a water-snake, but in default of that a 
common garter-snake will do just as well. Whenever one of 
these Tai Wangs is discovered, it is common to notify the near- 
est local official, and it is expected that he will go and worship 
it. Many years ago Li Hung Chang performed this service at 
Tientsin, where there is a very large temple to Tai Wang. 

As if these incongruous adjuvants of nature were not enough, 
there are some who worship Yli Huang Shang Ti, or Pearly 
Emperor Supreme Ruler, and still others think they have war- 
rant in offering sacrifice and worship to " Sun Ta ShSng," who 
is nothing more than an imaginary character in the novel 
known as " Travels to the West." Sun was originally a mon- 
key hatched by a ^process of evolution out of a stone, but his 
exploits are so many and so striking that the popular mind has 

169 



I70 VILLACX LIFE IN CHINA 

settled on him as a suitable being to superintend the rain-fall. 
Yet his worship is apparently limited, and like that of all the 
divinities mentioned extremely irregular. The same village 
that worships the God of War now, may worship the Goddess 
of Mercy next time, perhaps on the principle of judicious ro- 
tation. 

Besides all these, there is another and quite a different plan 
in extensive use. In the ancient but now ruined city of Han 
Tan Hsien, (in Western Chih-li) there is a temple on the 
premises of which there is a famous well, in which are a vast 
number of iron tablets. Whenever there is a scarcity of rain, it 
is almost always a last resort, after the District Magistrate has 
made the rounds of all the temples in and about his city, to 
post off an official messenger to Han Tan Hsien — a journey 
of several days — to get an iron tablet out of the well. The 
messenger takes an iron tablet from the city whence he starts on 
which is inscribed the date of the journey, and the name of the 
District which makes the petition, and on his arrival repairs to 
the Taoist temple, where for a certain sum he is provided with 
another iron tablet taken from the well, into which the tablet 
now brought is thrown. 

On his return journey the messenger is supposed to eat 
nothing but bran, and to travel at the top of his speed day and 
night. His arrival is anxiously awaited. And now emerges a 
characteristic Chinese performance. The counties through 
which his route lies are not unlikely just as much in need of 
rain as the one which sends the messenger : the people of these 
districts not infrequently waylay the messenger temporarily, and 
"borrow" his tablet, which is thus "invited" to the other 
district, and the rain-fall will take place there, instead of in the 
one to which it ought to belong. 

At first glance it certainly appears singular that so practical a 
people as the Chinese can put the least faith in mummeries of _ 
this sort, but the truth seems to be that very little actual faith is 
exercised, these performances only taking place in default of an 



VILLAGE AND QTY RAIN-MAKING 171 

acquaintance with the laws which govern the meteorology of 
the empire. Besides this, the months in which the most resort 
is had to such performances are the fifth and the sixth, and 
these are the ones in which the rain-fall is due. As a limit of 
some ten days is generally set for the efficacy of these petitions, 
it is extremely likely that the term will be coincident with a fall 
of rain, which fall will be credited to the petition ; whereas the 
failure of the petition is set down to some wholly different 
reason. 

An incident which occurred in one of the western counties 
of Shan-tung makes plain even to the most obtuse Chinese in- 
tellect the inconveniences of a wrong theory of the universe. 
A party of villagers with flags and a drum were on their way 
to a temple to pray for rain. They met a man leading a horse, 
on which was seated a married woman returning from one 
of the customary visits to her mother's family. She had a 
child in her arms, and the hired labourer leading the horse had 
on a wide straw hat. Now it is one of the eccentricities of the 
inaccurate views of those who pray for rain to non-existent 
monkeys and to garter-snakes, that they also entertain miscon- 
ceptions as to the causes which hinder rain. Foreigners carry- 
ing umbrellas have been mobbed as the efficient cause of drought. 
The water-spouts of a new consulate in a treaty-port have been 
complained of as drawing off the moisture that was meant for 
the whole province. So in this case the big straw-hat of the 
rustic was resented as '< contra-indicated " — as the physicians 
say — ^by the rain-prayers. The peasant was roared at, and a 
long pike-staff was thrust into his hat which was thrown from 
his head upon the horse, which being frightened pulled away 
and plunged ahead. The woman could not keep her seat, first 
dropping her child which was dashed to the ground and killed. 
The woman's foot caught in a stirrup and she was dragged for 
a long distance and when the horse was at length stopped she 
too was dead. She was pregnant, so that in one moment three 
lives had been sacrificed. The Jiired man ran on a little way 



172 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

to the woman's home, told his story, and as the men of the 
family happened to be at home, they all seized whatever imple- 
ments they could find and ran after the rain-prayers, with whom 
they fought a fierce battle killing four or five of them outright. 
The case went into the District yamen, and what became of it 
then, we do not know. 

Among the other eccentricities of rain-producing, is the bor- 
rowing of a god from one village for use in another. If he suc- 
ceeds in getting rain he is taken back in honour ; otherwise he 
is not unlikely to be left where he happened to be deposited 
when worshipped, the villagers — like a set of commissioners for 
educational examination — being solely influenced by "results." 
In other instances if the god does not show signs of apprecia- 
tion of the need of rain, he may be taken out into the hot sun 
and left there to broil, as a hint to wake up and do his duty. 
A bunch of willows is thrust into his hand, because the willow 
is sensitive to the smallest moisture. It is a common saying in 
China that ''when the Floods wash away the temple of Lung 
Wang (the Dragon King) it is a case of not knowing one's own 
folks." Yet this is what constantly happens. 

It is more than forty years since the Yellow River changed 
its course to its present one, taking the bed of a small stream 
known as the Clear River and bringing with the turbid torrent 
devastation and utter ruin. During more than an entire 
generation Central Shan-tung has been cursed with '* China's 
Sorrow," and even when the course was altered again in 1887, 
the Government spent fabulous sums, and at last brought the 
stream back again into its former bed — a feat which few 
foreigners who saw the new channel thought it possible to ex- 
ecute. 

The next year the region was visited by a corps of Dutch 
engineers, who made an elaborate survey and published an ex- 
haustive report, to which the Chinese Government paid no at- 
tention whatever. The plea at that time was lack of money, 
but the funds could have been had if the execution of the work 



VILLAGE AND CITY RAIN-MAKING 173 

had been put into foreign hands, than whom no more com- 
petent ones than the Dutch could have been found. But at the 
time when the Director General of the Yellow River — a title 
the humour of which is lost on the Chinese — memorialized the 
Throne on the necessity of employing foreign science for this 
otherwise hopeless task, his proposal was rebuked by the Em- 
press Dowager as "premature and ostentatious ! " 

According to Chinese ideas the ''Three Harmonies" are 
*' Heaven, Earth, and Man." All three of them are at present 
out of sorts with each other. What is imperatively needed is a 
reconciliation, but this can never be had until the Chinese 
come to a more accurate appreciation of the limits of the 
powers of each of the triad. A new set of men would soon 
make a new earth, and then the heavens would be found to be 
well enough as they are. In the course of ten years enough 
water falls for the use of all, and not too much to be managed. 
But man must learn how to control it, and until he does so, 
" Heaven, earth and man " will never be in right relations. 



XVII 

THE VILLAGE HUNT 

'TpHERE are parts of the wide province of Shan-tung, in 
which there are great sheets of clear and deep water 
much frequented by water-fowl, especially in the autumn and 
in the winter. In any Western land these districts would be 
the paradise of hunters, but here the ducks and the geese go 
their several ways in ''peace and tranquillity along the whole 
road," undisturbed by the gun of the sportsman or the pot- 
hunter. This is due to an old-time custom of the yamen in the 
Prefectural city contiguous to the largest marshes, of levying a 
squeeze on the results of the gunner's toil, a squeeze so com- 
prehensive and virtually prohibitory in its action that water- 
fowl are practically out of the market altogether. 

There is a record in the life of Dr. Medhurst, one of the 
pioneer missionaries in China, and father of Sir Walter Med- 
hurst, sometime Her Majesty's Consul-General in Shanghai, of 
a trip which he and a companion made north from Shanghai 
along the coasts of Shan-tung. Their plan was to debark from 
the fishing junk in which they had taken passage, cut across 
from one headland to another and then rejoin their vessel to re- 
peat the same process farther on. In this way they succeeded 
in penetrating to a few fishing villages and had conversation 
with a handful of people all along shore. With charming 
frankness the historian of this pioneer tour mentions that they 
nowhere saw any wild animals. We can readily believe him, for 
even at this advanced stage of extended exploration, the only wild 
animal that the most experienced traveller is likely to see is the 
hare, albeit there are sundry others such as weasels, a kind of 

174 



THE VILLAGE HUNT 175 

ground-fox, and the like, which do not obtrude themselves to 
any extent in public. 

It is said that in the little kingdom of Denmark the citizens 
have a winter sport which consists in a general and organized 
hunt for hares on the part of all the male population of a very 
extended territory, starting from a given point and working in 
a definite direction, under precise and carefully observed rules. 
At the close of the hunt there is a great feast to which all are 
welcomed, and the whole performance is one to which there is 
much anxious looking forward on the part of the young and 
vigorous country-folk. It is strange to meet with a custom of 
the same kind in China, but there- is an ancient district in 
Shan-tung, known as P'ing-ylien, or Level-plains, where the 
Danish custom flourishes in full force, but minus the very im- 
portant concluding feast. For where is the Chinese who would 
have the courage or indeed the means to welcome the countless 
swarms of his country-side to enjoy the pleasure of eating at 
somebody else's expense ? 

The whole arrangement of this combination hunt is in the 
hands of a few impecunious fellows who have the right of 
"protecting " merchants at the great fairs from imposition by 
other rascals, by means of levying a prophylactic black-mail of 
their own on a certain day at the principal market of the region. 
A man who has no single spear of hair on his head passes up 
and down the crowded lanes of the market, and calls out that 
on such and such a day there will be an attack by all the peo- 
ple of the "north district" on the hares. This notice is re- 
peated with varied iteration, until the word is comprehended by 
all those within hearing, each one goes home and tells the rest 
of the village, and on the set day all are ready for the fray. 
The reason for having the notice circulated by a bald man ex- 
clusively is the eminently Chinese one that in the Mandarin 
dialect the word for Bald — T'u — and that for Hare are iden- 
tical in sound. This circumstance once led to a very singular 
error on the part of a bright little child of certain foreigners 



176 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

living in Shan-tung. One of the employees of the establish- 
ment had been off somewhere on a donkey, and while he was 
leading it homeward the beast broke away and galloped off. A 
lad who was cutting grass in the neighbourhood saw the fleeing 
animal, rushed out and caught it, holding it till the rider came 
up. On their reaching home the dramatic story was told in 
the hearing of the lad, and the capture of the donkey was ac- 
credited to a little "T*u-tzu" or "Bald-boy." The foreign 
child heard the thrilling narrative which he duly retailed at the 
parental dinner-table, only he translated the name '- T'u-tzii " as 
Hare, the only kind of t*u-tzu of which he had ever heard ! 

On the day appointed for the hare-hunt, almost the whole 
population of the district to be beaten up turn out to help in 
the sport. They often stand as thick together as soldiers in 
ranks. The frightened hares go from one side to the other of 
the wide-spreading ring, but as every one of the human assail- 
ants has a stick and many of them have two, the chances of 
escape for the hare are reduced below zero. It is a law of the 
game that whoever succeeds in seizing a hare must hold it aloft, 
and in a loud tone cry out, "1 raise it" (chii), after which it 
is his, and no one can take it from him lawfully. Nevertheless, 
Chinese human nature is much like the article in other parts of 
the world, and the results are apt to be serious quarrels, fights, 
broken heads and limbs and perhaps lawsuits. But with that 
practical talent for which Chinese officials are distinguished, 
the Magistrates refuse to hear any case arising from these con- 
ditions, so that it is necessary to have them settled, as by far 
the majority of all Chinese law cases are, out of court by 
"peace-talkers." 

How easy it is for quarrels to arise even among a most peace- 
able people like the Chinese, with or without a hare-hunt, is il- 
lustrated by an incident which occurred some years since, many 
of the actors in which are well known to the writer. 

A few villagers were returning late on a moonlight night 
from a funeral in another village. Nearing their own hamlet. 



THE VILLAGE HUNT 177 

they came on two young fellows chopping down small trees of 
the kind called date (a jujube or rhamnus). They were getting 
ready clubs for the combined hare-hunt next day. On being 
hailed, the youths, who were trespassing on the territory of 
their neighbouring village, fled to their home pursued by the 
others. The latter returned to their own village and maliciously 
spread the report that the young men had been CMttmg pine 
trees from the clan graveyard. Although it was late at night 
a posse was soon raised to go to the other village (about a mile 
off) and demand satisfaction. The village was asleep, but 
some headmen were at last aroused who begged their visitors 
to postpone the matter till daylight, when the case would be 
looked into and the culprits punished, and any required satis- 
faction given. 

To the reasonable request, only reviling was retorted, and 
the band returned to their own village filled with fury. A gong 
was beaten, every man in the village aroused and every male 
of fit age forced to accompany the mob armed with clubs, 
poles, etc., to attack the other village. The latter happened to 
have a mud wall and gates kept closed at night. So large a 
band made a great noise, and soon roused their antagonists by 
their abusive language. The village elders struggled to keep 
the gates closed, but they were overborne by the hot blood of 
the youth, who were resolved, since they must have it, to give 
their assailants all the satisfaction they wanted. The gates 
once opened, a furious battle ensued, and the women who clam- 
bered to the flat-house tops and struggled to see what was going 
on heard only the dull whacks of heavy blows. Several men 
were knocked senseless, and on the cry that they had been 
killed, the battle was renewed until the attacked were driven 
inside their village, each side having several men wounded, 
some of them severely. One old man had his skull beaten in 
with a carrying-pole and was born home unconscious, in which 
condition he remained for a week or two. 

The next morning the attacking village went out and chopped 



(. 



178 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

down three little pine-trees growing in their own cemetery (as 
** proof " of the injury done by the other party), and proceeded 
to the District city to enter a complaint. The other village of 
course did the same. The first village took with them the old 
man, unconscious, and apparently in a moribund condition. 
Each party had to arrange its yamen expenses before a step 
could be taken, and as the case was a serious one, these were 
heavy. The Magistrate dared not decide either way until it 
was seen whether the wounded recovered. An epileptic, half- 
witted boy captured by one side, who avowed his responsibility 
for the trouble (perhaps scared nearly to death) was cruelly 
beaten till he was half dead for so doing. The matter dragged 
on for a long time, and at length was decided on no principle 
either of law or of equity — as is the case with so many suits — 
each side settling its own debts, and neither side winning. The 
village attacked had squandered at the yamen 300 strings of 
cash, and the attacking party 500 ! The old man at last re- 
covered, and peace reigned in Warsaw and its suburbs. 

Now what was the motive for all this ? Was there a feud be- 
tween these villages? By no means, but exceptional amity, 
six or eight families being connected by marriage. Was there 
any special provocation ? None whatever ; all comprehensible 
motives led to a continuance of peace, but war and bloodshed 
followed just the same. Much may be accounted for by 
Chinese passion, but how can passion be suddenly made out of 
nothing ? It is the current fashion to explain all phenomena, 
celestial and terrestrial, in terms of the development theory. 
Given heredity, education and environment and you have the 
man, and society. But it is questionable whether this classifi- 
cation is as exhaustive as it seems. At times another factor ap- 
pears to be required. It is what Edgar Poe called the Imp of 
the Perverse.] 



XVIII 

VILLAGE WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 

'npHE Chinese share with the rest of the human race a desire 
to make a marriage ceremony an occasion of joy. One 
of the most frequent periphrases for a wedding, is the expression 
"joyful event." It is in China preeminently true that the 
highest forms of **joy," find expression in eating. While 
marriage feasts are no doubt to be found in all lands at all 
times, they are especially Oriental, and are characteristic of the 
Chinese. 

Owing to the extent and the intricate ramifications of Chinese 
relationships, the number of persons who must be invited to a 
wedding is very large. In some regions it is customary for 
women only to contribute a "share" (^fen-tzu) to a wedding, 
while the men give a present at that part of the ceremony when 
the bridegroom salutes the guests in turn with a prostration. 
As the name of each guest is called to be thus honoured, he 
hands over the amount of his offering. But in other places 
men and women contribute in the same way. Of two things, 
however, one may be confident ; that nearly all those invited 
will be present either in person or by a representative ; and that 
nearly every woman will be accompanied by children, who con- 
tribute nothing to the revenues, but add enormously to the 
expenses. 

Marriage customs in China certainly vary widely, but of such 
a thing as being present at "the ceremony," but not at "the 
wedding breakfast," we have never heard. Indeed, it can 
scarcely be said that, in our sense of the word, there is any 
" ceremony." Whatever may be added or subtracted from the 
performances, the essence of a Chinese wedding seems to con- 

179 



i8o VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

sist in the arrival of the bride at her future home. The ^' feast '* 
is the main feature of the occasion. Sometimes the relatives 
are not invited at all upon the wedding day, but at a subse- 
quent one ; yet it is not the less true that when the guests do 
come, the "feast " is the centre and soul of the occasion. 

If there is anything which the Chinese have reduced to an 
exact science, it is the business of eating. The sign of real 
friendship is to invite a man to a meal, and it is a proverbial 
saying that he who comes bearing a vessel of wine on his 
shoulder and leading a sheep, is the truly hospitable man, for 
he shows by his acts that his invitation is a real one. The 
great mass of the Chinese spend their days in a condition which 
is very remote from affluence, but the expenses of weddings and 
funerals in the mere matter of eating, are such as must, from 
the extent of such expenses and the frequency of the occasions 
upon which they are required, reduce any but a very affluent 
family to utter poverty. 

Under the pressure of these inexorable circumstances, the 
Chinese have long ago hit upon .an application of the share 
principle, by means of which wedding and funeral feasts be- 
come quite practicable, which would otherwise remain an utter 
impossibility. It can seldom be known with certainty how 
many guests will attend a wedding, or funeral, but the provision 
must be made upon the basis of the largest number likely to 
appear. Each guest, or rather each family, is not only ex- 
pected, but by a rigid code of social etiquette required, as 
already mentioned, to contribute to the expenses of the occa- 
sion by a ''share." This will sometimes be in food, but the 
general practice is to bring money, according to a scale which 
is perfectly understood by every one. The amount varies 
greatly in different places, from a trifling sum of the value of 
about five or six cents up to a quarter of a dollar or more, ac- 
cording to the degree of intimacy between the persons, and the 
ability of the guests to contribute. In some parts of China, 
the ordinary amount taken to such a feast seems to be twice as 



VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS i8i 

great as in others. Sometimes the standard is so well under- 
stood, that the phrase '' a share " has a local meaning as defi- 
nite as if, for example, the sum of 250 cash were expressly- 
named. 

In some places while the rate of *'a share " for a funeral is 
250 cash, that for a wedding is just double. CThis is because 
the food at a funeral is '* plain " (su)^ while that for the wed- 
ding is of meat (Jiun) and much more expensive.") It is not 
uncommon to find that "a share" for a person who comes 
from another city or district is two or three times that of a na- 
tive of the place where the feast is given. To give only the same 
as a native would do would be considered for the person from 
a distance as a loss of *' face " ! 

It is a characteristic example of Chinese procedure that the 
sums contributed upon occasions of this sort are in reality sel- 
dom what they profess to be. If local custom considers ninety- 
eight or ninety-six cash as a hundred, the temptation to put in 
a less number as a contribution is generally too strong to be re- 
sisted ; the more so as in the confusion of receiving the numer- 
ous amounts, it is generally difficult to tell which particular 
string of cash was sent in by which persons, although the 
amounts are all entered in an '* account," to be presently 
noticed. 

Those householders who are very anxious to keep exact track 
of the relative honesty of the respective contributors, sometimes 
do so by having ready a long cord to which each successive 
sum of cash is tied by its string, after the sum is entered on the 
account. When the proceedings are ended, it will then be 
possible for the master of the house to go over the multitudinous 
strings of cash, ascertaining how much each one is short, and 
tracing it to its donor by its place on the cord, corresponding 
to the order of entry in the account-book. But this plan is not 
regarded with favour by the guests, and is not generally- 
adopted, because it makes so much trouble. The advantage 
of it is that it enables the householder to pay off the debt to 



i82 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the family which gave short cash, at exactly the same rate, 
whenever they invite him to a wedding or a funeral. In some 
places it is well understood that though each guest contributes 
*'a share" of 250 cash, it will take five *^ shares" to make 
1,000, since every ''hundred cash " is in reality only eighty. 

It is the duty of the committee which looks after the 
finances, to take charge of all sums which may be brought by 
the guests, and to keep a record of the amount paid by each. 
This is a matter of great importance, as every such contribution 
occupies the double position of a repayment of some similar 
gift to the family of the giver, by the family which now re- 
ceives the gift, and also of a precursor of similar return gifts in 
time to come. The amount which is sent by each person will 
depend upon the relations existing between the families, and 
especially upon the amount received by them on some former 
similar occasion. To disregard the unwritten code which de- 
mands from guests proportional contributions, is regarded as a 
grave offence against decorum, because of its serious conse- 
quences to the family concerned, in diminishing their receipts. 

To attend a feast, but not to bring any contribution, either in 
money or in kind, seems to be practically unknown, though it 
constantly happens that the quantity of food which on certain 
occasions may be substituted for money, is less than half of 
what is eaten by the donor. This is especially the case when 
the giver is a woman, who, as already mentioned, is likely to 
bring one or more voracious children, who must be pacified by 
food at every stage of the performances, their capacities being 
apparently absolutely unlimited. 

In cities and large towns, the business of managing a wed- 
ding or a funeral feast, is conducted much as it would be in 
any country of the West. A food shop contracts to deliver so 
many bowls of food of a definite quality and at a fixed price. 
Provision is also made for additional supplies should the num- 
ber of guests be unexpectedly great. But if the feast is to be 
on a large scale, it is not unlikely that the cooking will be done 



VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 183 

on the premises by the professional caterers. It is usual to 
speak of an affair of this sort as embracing so many ''feasts/* 
a ''feast" denoting not a single individual, as might be sup- 
posed, but the number who can sit at one table. This number, 
like everything Chinese, varies in different places. Sometimes 
it is eight, and the phrase, "eight fairy table" is the common 
designation of the articles of furniture required for the pur- 
pose. 

In other regions, while all the tables are of the same size and 
shape as these, one side is left open for convenience in passing 
the food, and a "feast " signifies six persons only. When the 
feasts are provided by contract, the establishment also furnishes 
waiters, who convey the food to the guests, and to these waiters 
a small gratuity is given at the close. 

The number of families who are within reach of facilities 
such as these, is but a small proportion of those who are 
obliged to arrange for feasts at weddings and funerals. For 
those to whom no such resource is open, there is no other way 
but to put the matter into the hands of certain experts, of great 
experience in such matters — a class of persons to be found 
everywhere. Every village or group of villages can furnish a 
professional cook, who devotes much of his time to the conduct 
of affairs of this sort. If he is a man of wide reputation, and 
employed by rich families, he will have a number of assistants 
who work under his direction, all of whom at the close of the 
feast will be rewarded with suitable gratuities. 

The staff of persons into whose hands the business of arrang- 
ing for a feast is committed, is divided into three departments 
or committees, the Stewards (chih-fang), the Culinary Depart- 
ment (ch'u-fang), and Finance Department (chang-fang). 
Each of them is a check upon the other two, although in the 
smaller and less expensive affairs all three will naturally run to- 
gether and be merged in a single head. The Stewards pur- 
chase such supplies as are supposed to be necessary, embracing 
the best which the local market affords. 



184 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

I In the northern part of China, the two items which prove 
the most expensive are wheaten bread-cakes {man-t^ou) and 
wineP If the accommodation of the dwelling admit of it, the 
articles which have been bought for the feast are placed in a 
separate apartment, under the exclusive charge of one of the 
stewards, by whose order alone can anything be paid out to 
the kitchen, on demand of the head cook. But in practice it 
is found that at this point there is always a serious leak, for 
many of the relatives and neighbours of the family which is to 
have the feast, will send over their children to the storeroom 
to "borrow " a few bread-cakes, or a few cups of wine. For 
a steward to refuse (as a foreigner would be likely to do), is to 
incur the ill-will of the family which wishes to " borrow," and 
the only advantage to the steward would be that he would be 
reviled, which no Chinese relishes. As a matter of practice 
therefore, it is customary to " give to him that asketh," and 
from him that would " borrow " not to turn away, even though, 
as the old English saying runs, "Broad thongs are cut out of 
other people's leather." 

It not infrequently happens that the stewards who are in 
charge of the entertainment are smokers of opium, in which 
case the expenses are sure to be much heavier than otherwise. 
rit has also come to be a custom in some regions, to furnish 
opium to the guests at weddin gs'^ and this may become an item 
of a very elastic nature. Besides this, a man who smokes 
opium is naturally incapacitated from taking even ordinary care 
of the stores under his charge. If he is himself a smoker, and 
if opium is one of the articles provided for the occasion, it will 
not be strange if all his opium-smoking comrades embrace the 
opportunity to visit him, when they must be invited to take a 
pipe — of course at the expense of the master of ceremonies. 

The disappearance of wine and bread -cakes, on occasions of 
this sort, even before a single bowl of food has been set before 
a guest, suggests the evaporation of water on a hot summer 
day. It was reported to the writer, that on the occasion of a 



VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 185 

funeral in a neighbour's family, about sixty catties of wine van- 
ished, without leaving behind any trace of its devious course. 

The reason for such occurrences, which are of universal 
notoriety, is not that the stewards are not able to do that which 
they are set to do, nor is the explanation necessarily to be found 
in their indifference to the interests of the host. The real seat of 
the difficulty is, that every family sufficiently well-to-do to have 
a large feast is surrounded v/ith a swarm of poor relatives, who 
have no other opportunities than these to make their connection 
of any service to themselves, and who on such occasions are 
determined not to be ignored. A poor family of the same sur- 
name as the host will stand at the door of the mansion where a 
great feast is in preparation, with bowls in hand, demanding 
that a share of the good things in course of being served shall 
be apportioned to them. Even if the master of the house 
should absolutely refuse his consent, and if the stewards should 
foltew his directions and give nothing, it would be of no avail, 
for the poor family would raise such an uproar as practically to 
prevent further proceedings, and all the guests would take the 
part of the poor relatives, exhorting the host to give them what 
they asked. 

The habit of levying tribute upon those who happen to be in 
a position to pay it, is, as already remarked, deeply rooted in 
Chinese life. To what this practice leads, may be seen in the 
extreme cases of which one now and then hears, such as the 
following, detailed to the writer by the principal sufferer. A 
man had a dispute with one of his uncles about a tree, the value 
of which did not amount to more than a dollar. As he was a 
person without force of character, and unable to get his rights, 
he was obliged to "eat loss." This enraged his wife to such 
an extent that she hung herself. It was now open to her hus- 
band to bring a suit at law, accusing the other party of '' har- 
rying to death' ' (// ssu) the deceased wife. Perhaps this would 
have been the best plan for the injured husband, but "peace- 
talkers ' ' persuaded him to compromise the matter for a money 



i86 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

payment. The other party had a powerful advocate in a rela- 
tive who was a notorious blackleg, expert in lawsuits, and who 
freely gave his advice. Even under these advantages, the mid- 
dlemen into whose hands the matter was put, decided that the 
uncle should pay 30,000 cash to the family of the woman, as 
a contribution to the funeral, which was done. 

It is not usual to make much parade over the funerals of sui- 
cides, unless the sum to be expended is exacted from those who 
are supposed to have impelled to the suicide. In this instance, 
half the amount paid would have been amply sufficient for the 
funeral and for all its expenses. The " family friends " of the 
husband, uncles, cousins, nephews, etc., took charge of the 
proceedings, which they contrived to drag out for more than a 
week, and when the funeral was over, the husband, whose 
crops had been that year totally destroyed by floods, ascertained 
that these " family friends " had not only made away with the 
30,000 cash awarded as a fine, but that he was saddled with a 
debt of immediate urgency amounting to 20,000 more for 
bread-cakes and wine, which had been consumed (as alleged) 
by the "family friends" during the protracted negotiations. 
No clear accounts of the expenditure were to be had, and the 
only thing of which the poor husband was sure, was that he 
was practically ruined by his " family friends." 

It is always taken for granted by the Chinese, that any family 
rich enough to spend a large amount of money on the funeral 
of a parent, will be mercilessly pillaged on that particular occa- 
sion. The reason for this is that, at such a time, the master of 
the house is (theoretically) overcome by grief, and ordinary 
propriety requires that he himself should take no part in the 
management of affairs, but should give his exclusive attention 
to the mourning rites. Even though he clearly perceives that 
everything is going wrong, he must act as if he were blind and 
deaf, and also dumb. Long practice has made the Chinese 
very expert in such an accomplishment, which, it is needless to 
say, for an Occidental would be difficult, not to say impossible. 



VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 187 

If the householder is a man for any reason generally unpopular, 
his disadvantages will be greatly increased, as is illustrated by 
the following case, narrated to the writer by a man who lived 
within two miles of the village in which the event occurred. 

A wealthy man lost his father, and made preparations for an 
expensive funeral. He took a hundred strings of cash in a 
large farm-cart, and went to a market to buy swine to be 
slaughtered for the feast. On the way he was waylaid by a 
party of his own relatives, and robbed of all the money, in 
such a way as to render recovery of it hopeless. Having after- 
ward bought four swine and an ox (a most generous provision 
for the feast), the arrangements were put into the hands of 
managers (tsung-li) as usual. These persons found themselves 
wholly unable to restrain the raids made upon the stores by 
"friends," neighbours and others, and the night before the 
funeral was to occur, thieves broke into the storeroom and 
carried off every scrap of meat, leaving nothing whatever for 
the feast. The managers were frightened and ran away. The 
feast was of necessity had with nothing but vegetables and was 
of a sort to bring the householder into disgrace. / As a result 
he was afraid to try to have any more funerals, and there are 
at present on his premises two unburied coffins awaiting sepul- 
ture, perhaps by the next generation. | 

As soon as the " shares " have all been sent in and reckoned 
up, it is known how much the host is out of pocket by the af- 
fair, and this information is so far from being private that it is 
sometimes at once announced to the guests, and if the amount 
is a large one the host gets credit for doing business on an ex- 
tensive scale, regardless of expense. This gives him a certain 
amount of honour among his neighbours, and honour of a kind 
which is particularly prized. Among poor families, where 
**face" is of much less consequence than cash, it is not un- 
common to find the feasts on a scale of such extreme economy 
that the cost is very trifling, although the "shares" are as 
great as at much better entertainments. It occasionally hap- 



i88 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

pens that a family is able to reduce the expenses so that the 
contributions are large enough to cover them, and even to leave 
a margin. A man who has carried through an enterprise of 
this sort is regarded as worthy of a certain admiration ; and 
not without reason, for the feat implies generalship of no mean 
order. 

Another illustration of the application of cooperative princi- 
ples is found in the organization of the men of a village into 
details, or reliefs, as bearers of the catafalque of a specified 
size, each having its own leader. Whenever a funeral is to 
take place, notice is sent to the head of the division whose turn 
it is to serve, and he calls upon the men of his detail in a regu- 
lar order. If any one is not on hand to take his turn, he is 
subjected to a fine. 

In country districts, the funeral catafalque, with its tremen- 
dous array of lacquered poles upon which it is borne, is often 
the property of a certain number of individuals, who are also 
ordinary farmers. On being summoned to take charge of a 
funeral, they often perform the service gratuitously for people 
living in their own village, but charging a definite sum for the 
rent of the materials, which sometimes represent a considerable 
capital. Wedding chairs are often owned and managed in the 
same way, of which the advantage is that an investment which 
it is so desirable for the community to have made, and which 
is too large for an individual, is made by a company, the mem- 
bers of which receive a small dividend on its cash outlay, and 
an acknowledgment in food, presents, etc., of the manual la- 
bour involved in serving those who invite their aid. 

The principle is capable of indefinite expansion. The writer 
once lived in a Chinese village, where there was a *' Bowl As- 
sociation," owning loo or 200 bowls which were rented to 
those who had occasion for a feast, at such a rate as to be re- 
munerative to the owners, and at the same time more econom- 
ical to the householder than the purchase of a great number of 
dishes for which on ordinary occasions he would have no use. 





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VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 189 

Societies for the assistance of those who have funerals are of 
common occurrence, and are of many different kinds. There 
is special reason for the organization of such leagues (called 
pais he), since, while weddings may be postponed until suitable 
arrangements can be made, it is generally difficult, and some- 
times impossible, to do the same with a funeral. 

Sometimes each family belonging to the league pays into the 
common fund a monthly subscription of 100 cash a month. 
Each family so contributing is entitled upon occasion of the 
death of an adult member of the family (or perhaps the older 
generation only) to draw from this fund, say, 6,000 cash, to be 
used in defraying the expenses. If there is not so much money 
in the treasury as is called for by deaths in families of the mem- 
bers, the deficiency is made up by special taxes upon each 
member. According to a plan of this sort, a subscriber who 
drew out nothing for five years would have contributed the full 
amount to which he is entitled, without receiving anything in 
return. A mutual insurance company of this nature is prob- 
ably entered into on account of the serious difficulty which 
most Chinese families experience in getting together ready 
money. From a financial point of view there may be nothing 
saved by the contribution, but practically it is found to be 
easier to raise 100 cash every month, than to get together 6,000 
cash at any one time. 

Another form of mutual assistance in the expenses of funerals 
is the following : A man whose parents are well advanced in 
life knows that he may at any time be called upon to spend 
upon the ceremonies at their death an amount which it will be 
difficult to raise. He therefore '* invites an association " (ch'ing 
hut), each member of which is under obligation upon occasion 
of the death of a parent to contribute a fixed sum, say 2,000 
cash. The membership will thus be composed exclusively of 
those who have aged parents. The number of names may be 
forty, which would result, whenever a call shall be made, in the 
accumulation of 80,000 cash. With this sum a showy funeral 



I90 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

can be paid for. It is customary to provide in the document 
which each signs, and which is deposited with the organizer of 
the association, that the funeral shall be conducted on a speci- 
fied scale of expense, nor can the funds be diverted to any 
other use than for a funeral. 

Whenever a member wishes for his own use to make a call 
for the quota from each member, he must previously find two 
bondsmen, who will be surety for him that he will continue to 
pay his share on demand, otherwise the other subscribers might 
be left in the lurch. Only those known to be able to meet their 
assessments would be likely to be invited to join such an asso- 
ciation, and if for any reason a member should fail to furnish 
his quota, he would be heavily fined. 

At each funeral, all the subscribers to the funeral fund are 
present ex officio ^ and it is not necessary for them to contribute 
any other share than that represented by the 2,000 cash of the 
assessment. Each member of the association appears in mourn- 
ing costume, and wailing as would become a near relative of the 
deceased. The presence of so large a number of mourners in 
addition to those really near of kin, gives a great deal of " face " 
to the individual whose parent has died, and this is perhaps 
quite as attractive a feature of the arrangement as the financial 
assistance. 

If it should happen that for a long time no one dies in the 
families of any subscribers to the funeral fund, it may be 
thought best to summon the members to a feast, at which the 
project is broached of making a call for a share to be used for 
a wedding, or some other purpose outside of the constitutional 
limits of the society. In any arrangement of this nature the 
feast is an indispensable concomitant of the proceedings. 
Without it nothing can begin, and without it nothing can end. 

Associations of this nature are much more common in con- 
nection with funerals than with weddings, yet they are not un- 
known for the latter purpose. A family, for example, wishes 
to marry a son on a scale which the family resources will not 



VILLAGE WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 191 

warrant. It then resorts to an expedient, which is called 
** drawing friends by means of other friends." Let us suppose 
that it is desired to raise the sum of 100,000 cash. A hundred 
cards of invitation are prepared, ten of which are sent to ten 
friends of the family, who are invited to a preliminary feast. 
These friends receive the extra cards of invitation, and each 
one gives a card to nine other ** friends " of his own, who agree 
to attend the wedding in question, each one bringing with him 
as a share a string of cash. By this means a family with little 
wealth and few connections is able suddenly to blossom out at 
a wedding with a hundred guests (many of whom nobody 
knows), and all expenses are provided for by the liberal contri- 
bution of the "friends," and of the friends of the *' friends." 

The only motive for the act, on the part of the original 
"friends " is friendship, and the gustatory joy of the wedding 
feast. The only motives for the friends of the ''friends," are 
their friendship, and the same joyful feast. It is needless to 
observe that the 100,000 cash thus suddenly raised is a debty 
which the family receiving it must repay in future contribu- 
tions. 

To a Westerner, it doubtless appears a preposterous proceed- 
ing to saddle a family with a liability of this sort, for the mere 
sake of a temporary display. But love of display is by no means 
confined to the Chinese, although doubtless they are satisfied 
with manifestations of it which to us are far from being attract- 
ive. It is a characteristic in the Chinese conduct of affairs, to 
make heavy drafts on the future in order to satisfy a present 
need. Many a family will sell all their land, and even pull down 
their house, to provide for a funeral of a parent, because to 
bury the deceased without a suitable display would be a loss of 
"face." And this irrational procedure is executed with an air 
of cheerfulness and of conscious virtue, which seems to say, 
" Behold me ! I will do what is becoming at any personal in- 
convenience whatever ! " 

The elaborateness of a Chinese funeral may be roughly de- 



192 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

termined in advance by calculating the product of two factors, 
the age (especially the rank of the deceased by generations) 
and the social rank of the family. As soon as a death occurs 
the wailing begins, and at once, or possibly at sunset, the tem- 
ple of the local-god is visited to make the announcement to 
him, accompanied with more wailing. Further exercises of 
this sort take place on •* the third day," that is in some regions 
the next day, which is held to be to all intents ''the third " ! 
In case of an affair of great ceremony there will be special per- 
formances on every seventh day (a strange and apparently 
unique survival of the hebdominal division in China) for seven 
times, the funeral occurring on the forty-ninth day. During 
the whole of this period there is no quiet time for the distracted 
family. Perhaps both Buddhist and Taoist priests are chant- 
ing their Sacred Books in extemporized mat-shed pavilions of a 
tawdry splendour ; for it is often considered safest in the dim 
uncertainty as to the best way to reach the regions of the blest, 
to take passage by both of these religious routes. Excruciating 
music rends the air from morn till eve, and bombs are detonat- 
ing at frequent intervals to terrify malignant spirits, and to de- 
light the swarms of village boys who riot in ecstasies during 
the whole procedure. 

English-speaking peoples have been criticised for taking their 
pleasures sadly. The Chinese, on the contrary, often contrive 
to get through their mourning not without considerable enjoy- 
ment. Under no other mundane circumstances is so much to 
be had to eat on such easy terms. The adage says truly, 

" When old folks die, the rest feed high." 

The strain upon the exiguous resources of a single courtyard 
or set of yards in preparing food simultaneously for the guests, 
often numbering hundreds, is very great; yet the inevitable 
waiting, the crowding, the turmoil, and discomfort are all borne 
without a tenth of the complaint and resentment which a tithe 
of the same annoyances and provocations would probably cause 



VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 193 

the readers of these lines. In China there is no other way to 
bury the dead, and there never has been any other way. Cere- 
mony is the very Hfe of the Chinese race, and on no other oc- 
casion is ceremony so triumphantly t)a-annical as at a Chinese 
funeral. Yet in the most showy pageantry there is likely to be 
an element of unutterable shabbiness. In city processions flags, 
banners, umbrellas, screens, and handsome wooden tablets 
shining with lacquer and glittering with gilt are carried in great 
numbers before and behind the coffin of notables, but the 
bearers are not infrequently dirty, ragged beggars, straggling 
along without aim and without order. Little or nothing of this 
is to be seen in the rural districts, but the confusion and dis- 
orderliness are omnipresent and inevitable. Tnere is in the 
Chinese language no word meaning solemn, for there is no such 
thing as solemnity in the Chinese Empire. 

White being the mourning colour, at a funeral swarms of 
people appear, some with a mere fillet about their head, others 
with square caps, and others with a more abundant display, up 
to those whose near relationship to the deceased requires that 
they be covered entirely with the coarse cloth which denotes 
the deepest depth of mourning, their feeble steps being sup- 
ported by a short stick of willow upon which they ostentatiously 
lean, particularly at the numerous junctures when wailing is to 
take place. Generally speaking, the wearers of white are those 
who come within the "Five Degrees of Relationship " (wu fu), 
that is, all directly descended from one's grandfather's grand- 
father (the steps being indicated in Chinese by separate names 
for each generation, to wit, kao, tseng, tsu, fu, and shin, viz., 
three generations of "grandfathers," my father, and myself). 
The family in mourning furnishes material for all the cloud of 
mourners, but if the married daughters are provided by their 
husband's family with a supply, this is a mark of special honour. 
Sometimes women are seen proudly carrying a huge bolt of 
wholly superfluous cloth on their arm all through a funeral, 
furnishing a public testimonial that their husbands or fathers-in- 



194 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

law have done the correct thing, thus giving the daughter-in- 
law a large supply of ** face." 

Since family graveyards are surrounded by planted fields, if 
a funeral happens to be held in the spring or early summer, it 
is inevitable that by the trampling of so many persons much 
damage should be done to growing crops. A space twenty feet 
wide or more would be required by the bearers of a catafalque, 
and if the funeral is a large one it will be followed all the way 
by a dense crowd. The unhappy owners of adjacent land 
sometimes provide themselves with shovels, and throw quanti- 
ties of earth into the air so as to fall on the heads of the tres- 
passers on their grain, as a protest (like all Chinese protests 
wholly futile) against the invasion of their rights. 

Angry words and reviling are not infrequent concomitants of 
Chinese funerals, for the provocation is often grievous. To in- 
terfere with a funeral is a serious offence, but disputes some- 
times arise between the participants. The writer once saw a 
coffin left for many days by the side of a public road because 
the bearers of the two coffins that were to have been buried to- 
gether, differed as to which set should first leave the village, 
the disagreement terminating in a fight and an angry lawsuit, 
pending the settlement of which the dead man could not stir. 

It is when the almost interminable feasts are at last over, and 
the loud cry is raised, <*Take up the coffin," that the funeral's 
climax has arrived. Sixteen bearers, or some multiple of six- 
teen (and the more the better) wrestle with the huge and un- 
wieldy burden of the ponderous coffin and the enormous cata- 
falque supporting it. Only the bearers in the immediate front 
can see where they are going, so that it is necessary that a 
funeral director taki charge of their motions, which he does by 
shrill shouts in a falsetto key ending in a piercing cry by no 
means unlike the scream of a catamount. To each of his di- 
rective yells the whole chorus of bearers responds with shouts 
resembling those of sailors heaving an anchor. These cries 
mingled with the ostentatious wails of the mourners piled into 



VILLAGE IVEDDINGS AND FUNERALS 195 

a whole caravan of village farm-carts, combine to produce a 
total effect as remote from our conception of what a funeral 
ought to be as can easily be imagined. When, by a slow and 
toilful progress, the family graveyard has been reached, the 
lowering of the coffin into the grave — sometimes a huge circu- 
lar opening — is the culminating point of the many days of ex- 
citement. The cries of the director become shrieks, the re- 
sponses are tumultuous and discordant, every one adding his 
own emendations according to his own point of view, and no one 
paying any attention to any one else. Thus, amid the explosion 
of more crackers and bombs, the fiercer wails of the mourners, 
the shouts of the bearers and the grave-diggers, and the buzz 
of the curious spectators, the Chinese is at last laid away to his 
long rest. 



XIX 

NEW YEAR IN CHINESE VILLAGES 

TF the foreigner who has Uved in China long enough to take 
-*■ in its external phenomena, but not long enough to per- 
ceive the causes of them, were to explain to one of less knowl- 
edge his views as to the leading features of the change from one 
Chinese year to another as exhibited in the life of the Chinese, 
he would probably name (and with much plausibility) one or 
more of the following particulars. 

DUMPLINGS 

The customs of different parts of the wide empire doubt- 
less vary, but probably there is no part of it in which either 
dumplings or some similar article are not inseparably associated 
with New Year's Day, in the same way as plum-pudding with 
an English Christmas, or roast-turkey and mince pie with a 
New England Thanksgiving. As compared with Western peo- 
ples the number of Chinese who are not obliged to practice 
self-denial either in the quantity or the quality of their food, 
and in both, is small. The diet of the vast mass of the nation 
is systematically and necessarily abstemious. Even in the case 
of farmers' families who are well enough off to afford the year 
round good food in abundance, we do not often see them in- 
dulging in such luxury. Or if the males of the elder genera- 
tion indulge, the women and children of a younger generation 
are not allowed to do so. \^Hereditary economy in the item of 
food is a marked Chinese trait.) To "eat good things " is a 
common phrase denoting the occurrence of a wedding, a 
funeral, or some occasion upon which "good things " cannot 
be dispensed with. To eat cakes of ordinary grain on New 

196 



NE^V YEAR IN CHINESE yiLLAGES 197 

Year's Day, and not to get any dumplings at all, is proverbially 
worse than not to have any New Year. 

Moreover, the keen joy with which every member of a 
Chinese family looks forward to the dietetic aspect of their 
New Year, the still keener joy with which every member is 
absorbed in devouring all he can get of the best there is to be 
got, and the scarcely less keen joy with which each one recalls 
the details of the menu when the family is once more launched 
upon the Sahara of ordinary fare — these are full of suggestion 
and instruction to Occidentals who habitually have so much to 
eat that they seldom secure the best sauce of gnawing hunger, 
and are more likely than not to be bored by being asked out to 
an elaborate dinner with many courses. The most robust 
imagination finds it impossible to conceive of a Chinese who 
should take this view of what always appeals to the finest feel- 
ings of his nature. There is therefore much reason in placing 
Dumplings in the forefront of a Chinese New Year. 

REUNION 

No feast-day in any Western land — the two previously men- 
tioned not excepted — can at all compare with Chinese New 
Year, as regards powers of traction and attraction. We con- 
sider the gathering of families on these special occasions as 
theoretically desirable, and as practically useful. But we have 
this fatal disadvantage ; our families divide and disperse, often 
to the ends of the earth, and a new home is soon made. 
Whole families cannot be transported long distances, especially 
at inclement seasons of the year, even if average dwellings 
would hold them all. 

But in China, the family is already at home. (^It is only some 
of its male members who are absent, and they return to their 
ancestral abode, with the infallible instinct of the wild fowl to 
their southern haunts. If vast distances should make this 
physically impossible — as is the case with the countless Shan-hsi 
men scattered over the empire doing business as bankers, pawn- 



198 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

brokers, etc., or as happens with many from the northern prov- 
inces who go " outside the Great Wall," — still the plan is to go 
home, perhaps one year in three, and the time selected is al- 
ways at the close of the year. 

A cat in a strange garret, a bird with a broken wing, a fish 
out of water are not more restless and unhappy than the aver- 
age Chinese who cannot go home at New Year time. In addi- 
tion to his personal deprivations, he has the certainty of being 
ridiculed not only by the persons with whom he is obliged to 
stay, but also by the people of his own village when he does go 
home. The Chinese dread ridicule, even more than they dread 
the loss of a good meal, and unless the circumstances are alto- 
gether exceptional, one can depend upon it that every Chinese 
can only be kept away from his home at New Year by circum- 
stances over which he has no control. There is, therefore, 
good ground for regarding reunion as a leading feature of a 
Chinese New Year. 

NEW CLOTHES 

Whoever takes even a superficial view of the Chinese in their 
towns, cities and villages during the period from the first day of 
the first moon to the fifteenth of the same, will be struck with 
the display of new and bright-coloured garments. Every article 
of apparel, both of the men and of the women, and still more 
of the children, may be of any or all the colors of the rain- 
bow. The Chinese do not seem to us to be conspicuous for 
what we call good taste, but rather at times to emulate the 
vagaries of the African savages, and never more so than at this 
time of holiday show. Combinations of colour which would 
cause Western ladies to shrug their shoulders, and to shiver 
with horror, appear to recommend themselves to the Chinese 
taste as the correct thing, and as good form. Bright green and 
blue, accompanied by deep scarlet, purple, lilac or orange, do 
not seem to '*kill each other," as our modistes would shudder- 
ingly affirm, but they convey such evident and such universal 



NEIV YEAR IN CHINESE TILLAGES 199 

pleasure to wearers and spectators alike, that it becomes plain 
to the most prejudiced foreigner, that here, at least, his stand- 
ards do not apply. In consideration of the stress which the 
Chinese lay upon this feature of their great anniversary, we 
should be justified in assuming fine clothes as a main character- 
istic of the occasion. 

RELIGIOUS RITES 

The very first aspect in which Chinese New Year presents 
itself, no matter in what part of the world we happen to meet 
it, is that of noise. All night long, there is a bang ! bang ! 
bang! of firecrackers large and small, which, like other ca- 
lamities, '* come, not single spies, but in battalions." The root 
of all this is undoubtedly connected with religion, as in other 
similar performances all over the world. But though the ex- 
plosion of gunpowder is the most prominent, it is far from being 
the most important act of New Year worship. There is the 
despatch of the last year's kitchen-god, generally on the twenty- 
third of the twelfth moon, and the installation of his successor 
at the close of the year. On the last evening of the year, there 
is the family gathering either at the ancestral temple, or should 
there not be one, in the dwelling-house, for the worship of the 
tablets of the past few generations of ancestors. In some parts 
of China ancestral tablets are comparatively rare among the 
farming and working people, and the place of them as regards 
the practical worship at New Year's eve, is taken by a large 
scroll, containing a portion of the family genealogy, which is 
hung up, and honoured with prostrations and the burning of 
incense. On the morning of the second day of the new first 
moon, perhaps at other times also, all the males of a suitable 
age go to the family or clan graveyard, and there make the 
customary offerings to the spirits of the departed. There has 
been considerable controversy among foreigners expert in 
Chinese affairs as to the true value of these various rites from 
a religious point of view, but there is no doubt on the part of 



200 TILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

any one that they constitute a most essential ingredient in a 
Chinese New Year, and that in the present temper of the 
Chinese race, a New Year without such rites is both incon- 
ceivable and impossible. We do well, therefore, to place Re- 
ligious Rites prominently in our catalogue. 

SOCIAL CEREMONIES 

It requires but a slight acquaintance with the facts, however, 
to make us aware that while the ceremonies connected with 
the dead are important, they are soon disposed of once for all, 
and that they do not form a part of the permanent New Year 
landscape. It is quite otherwise with the social ceremonies 
connected with the living. The practice of New Year calls, as 
found in some Western lands is a very feeble parody of the 
Chinese usage. We call on whom we choose to call upon, 
when we choose to go. The Chinese pays his respects to those 
to whom he must pay his respects, at the time when it is his 
duty so to do and from this duty there is seldom any reprieve. 
For example, not to press into undue prominence local prac- 
tices, which vary greatly, it may be the fashion for every one 
to be up long before daylight. After the family salutations 
have been concluded, all but the older generation of males set 
out to make the tour of the village, the representatives of each 
family entering the yard of every other family, and prostrating 
themselves to the elders who are at home to receive them. This 
business goes by priority in the genealogical table, as military 
and naval officers take rank from the date of their commissions. 
Early marriages on the part of some members of a collateral 
branch of a large clan, late marriages on the part of other 
branches, the adoption of heirs at any point, and other causes, 
constantly bring it about that the men oldest in years are by 
no means so in the order of the generation to which they be- 
long. Thus we have the absurd spectacle of a man of seventy 
posing as a *' nephew" — or, if worst comes to worst — as the 
" grandson " of a mere boy. One often hears a man in middle 



NEPy YEAR IN CHINESE VILLAGES 201 

life complain of the fatigues of the New Year time, as he being 
of a *' late generation," is obliged " to kotow to every child two 
feet long " whom he may happen to meet, as they are ** older " 
than he, and in consequence of this inversion of "relative 
duties," the children are fresh as a rose, while the middle-aged 
man has lame knees for a week or two ! 

If the first day is devoted to one's native town or village, the 
succeeding ones are taken to pay calls of ceremony upon one's 
relatives living in other towns or villages, beginning with the 
mother's family, and branching into relationships the names of 
which few foreigners can remember, and which most cannot 
even comprehend. That all this social ceremony is upon the 
whole a good thing cannot be doubted, for it prevents many 
alienations, and heals in their early stages many cases of 
strained relations. Yet, to us such a formal and monotonous 
routine would prove insufferable. 

To the Chinese, these visits are not only an important part 
of New Year, presumptively they are in real sense New Year 
itself. Every visit involves a '* square meal," and (from the 
Chinese point of view) a good time. To omit them, v/ould be 
not only to deprive oneself of much pleasure, it would be to 
commit a social crime, which would almost certainly give great 
offence. 

NATIONAL LEISURE 

Greater familiarity with the conditions and details of Chinese 
life lead us to wonder that so laborious a people find time for all 
this junketing and vain display. The marvel is indeed a per- 
manent one, but it ceases to surprise us when we have once 
taken in the fact that the whole Chinese race have as a unit, 
practically agreed to deduct from the twelve available months, 
an entire half moon, from New Year till the Feast of Lanterns. 
Within this twenty-fourth part of the year, nothing shall be 
done which can be left undone. The outgo is to be put down 
to the expense account of the whole year, and the main pur- 



202 TILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

pose is to have a good time. This period thus becomes a 
safety-valve for the nation, which else might go distraught in 
all its otherwise ceaseless toils. ( If the Chinese did not as a 
rule, work so hard, they could not so heartily enjoy their long 
vacation. If they did not so heartily enjoy their vacation, they 
could not during the rest of the year work so well. We are 
therefore authorized, in arranging our table of contents of the 
Chinese New Year, to give large place to the almost complete 
cessation of productive industry. It is the epoch of national 
leisure. ^ 

GAMBLING 

It is a venerable maxim that "Satan finds some mischief 
still, for idle hands to do." Probably no race that ever lived 
could resist the strain of such a sudden transition from constant 
industrial activity, to complete industrial inactivity, to be fol- 
lowed half a month later by the old routine and another year 
of bondage. They could not resist the strain, that is to say, 
without a corresponding reaction; neither can the Chinese. 
It is not in human nature to find consecutive enjoyment merely 
in the directions which have been named, without trying to go 
farther and to get more. This is precisely what the Chinese 
do, and they do it by the excitement of gambling. This, with 
opium smoking, is the greatest vice in China, and the most 
ruinous. But after all, taking the country districts through, 
the proportion of gamblers among the working classes, so far 
as we are aware, is limited, though vast sums are everywhere 
annually squandered in this way. (But the remarkable thing is 
that at New Year's time all restrictions seem to be removed, 
and both men and women give themselves up to the absorbing 
excitement of cards, dominoes, etc., with money stakes of vary- 
ing amount, and with no fear or even thought of future evil 
harvests. In the abstract, gambling is of course recognized as 
^ong and not to be indulged, as likely to lead to trouble. 
But at New Year's time ''everybody does it," ''it is only for 



NEiy YEAR IN CHINESE ULLAGES 20$ 

amusement," and "there is nothing else to do," — the latter an 
important fact to be taken account of at a time when even 
cooking is often praetermitted as much as possible. Merchants 
do not take down their shutters, but one can hear the clerks 
noisily gambling inside. Innkeepers will not open their front 
doors, but landlord and servants are all gambling together and 
will refuse to stop a game to feed your animals or get you a 
meal, telling you that it is no time to travel, and that business 
is business, and amusement amusement. 

Old women and young women squatted on their mats or their 
k'angSy feverishly shuffle their cards and pay their little stakes, 
and all are having a good time. 

That this state of things will not stop suddenly on the day 
after the Feast of Lanterns, is obvious. It often never stops at 
all, but goes on with a widening and lengthening trail of ruin, 
not ending even with the grave, but lasting to the third and 
fourth generation. Surely we are right in calling gambling a 
leading feature of a Chinese New Year. And yet after all, 
perhaps we have not got to the bottom of the matter. 

DEBT-PAYING 

However little attention he may pay to the Chinese calendar, 
every foreigner in China is sure to be reminded in a very effect- 
ive way of the approach of the close of the Chinese year, long 
before the edge of the New Year is to be seen above the horizon. 
At some time during the twelfth moon, the "boy" makes his 
appearance, and with an unusual animation in his unanimated 
face, explains that owing to a combination of circumstances 
which seem to be to a large extent incapable of elucida- 
tion to us, he is obliged to request the advance of his wages for 
the current month, and also for the one to come. This may be 
contrary to rule, doubtless is so, but owing to the combination 
above alluded to, is an imperative necessity. Otherwise ruin 
impends. It is not long before a similar statement is made by 
the cook, with regard to his affairs, and by the various coolies 



204 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

as to theirs. In each case the necessity turns out upon investi- 
gation to be so real, and the pressure of the combination of cir- 
cumstances so powerful, that we are, in a manner, forced to do 
violence to our own judgment, in order to avert the imminent 
ruin of those who are in our employ, and in whom we feel, 
perhaps, some interest. But it is a long time before it occurs 
to us to look into the matter more deeply than sufficiently to 
ascertain what everybody knew before, that Chinese New Year 
is preceded by a universal season of debt -paying from which no 
one is exempt. If we insist upon following up any specific case 
with a rigid examination into its remoter causes, we soon learn 
from the principal party such facts as appear to justify his as- 
sertion of an emergency, and also that there is nothing peculiar 
in his case, but that other people are in the same predicament. 
If these inquiries are carried far enough, and deep enough, they 
will bring to light the seven deadly sins of Chinese social finan- 
ciering. 

I . Everybody always needs to borrow. That the business 
of the world even in Western lands depends upon the borrowing 
of money, and that credit is the largest factor in trade, are posi- 
tions which we do not for a moment forget. But Chinese bor- 
rowing is of a different type from that with which the great ex- 
pansion of modern commerce has made us familiar. We do 
not affirm that there are not Chinese who do not need the 
money of other people for the conduct of their affairs, but only 
that these people are so rare that they may as well be disre- 
garded. The whole scale of Chinese living and the whole sys- 
tem of economics are of such a sort, that as a rule there is but 
a narrow margin of financial reserve. With all their practical- 
ity and skill in affairs, it is a constant source of wonder that so 
few Chinese ever have anything to fall back upon. One reason 
for this is the fact that it is very difficult for them to accumu- 
late a reserve, and another equally potent is the fact that there 
is nothing which can be safely done with it pending its use. 
There are no savings-banks, and there are no investments which 



NEPV YEAR IN CHINESE VILLAGES 205 

are safe. The only thing which can be done with ready money, 
is to lend it to those who need it, which is generally done with 
some reluctance, as the lender justly fears lest he should never 
again see either interest or principal. Whoever has a wedding 
in his family, is liable to have to borrow money to carry it 
through, and if it be a funeral the necessity will be still more 
urgent. He needs money to start in business, and he needs 
more to settle up at the end of the year, when, if their own ac- 
counts are to be trusted, nine Chinese out of ten who engage in 
business in a small way, find that they have 'Most money " ; 
though this often signifies that they have not realized so much 
as they had hoped. In short it is hard to find a Chinese to 
whom the loan of a sum of money at any time, would not be 
as welcome as ''water to a -fish in a dry rut." It is this all- 
prevailing need which smoothes the surface of the spot where 
the pit is to be dug. 

2. Everybody is obliged to lend money. We have just re- 
marked that the man who happens to have a little surplus cash 
does not like to lend it, lest he should never see it again. But 
there are various kinds and degrees of pressure which can be 
brought to bear upon the capitalist. One of these is connected 
with the solidarity of the Chinese family, or clan. If one of 
the members has money which he might lend and another is 
desperately in need of it, the latter will get a member of the 
generation higher than that to which the capitalist belongs, to 
intercede for him. This may be done unwillingly, but it will 
probably be done. To a sufficient amount of pressure of this 
ancestral description, the capitalist will find it best to yield, 
though not improbably against his financial judgment. (But 
every Chinese is from infancy accustomed to the idea that it is 
seldom easy to have one's own way in all things, and that when 
one cannot do as he would, he must do as he must.'j If the 
borrower does not belong to the same family or clan as the 
lender, the difficulty will be greater, but it may perhaps be 
overcome by the same description of pressure, by means of 



2o6 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

friends. A would-be borrower is often obliged to make a 
great many kotows before he can secure the favour of a loan (at 
an extortionately high rate of interest), but he is much aided 
in his efforts by the Chinese notion that when a certain amount 
of pressure has been brought to bear, a request must be granted, 
just as one of a pair of scales must go down if you put on 
enough weights. Thus it comes about that in all ranks of 
Chinese, the man who has, is the man who must be content 
to allow to share in his wealth (for a handsome remuneration). 

3. From the foregoing propositions, it follows with inevi- 
table certainty, that almost everybody owes some one else. 
There is never any occasion to ask a Chinese whether he owes 
money. The proper formula is, How much do you owe, and 
to whom, and what is the rate of interest ? 

4. No Chinese ever pays cash down, unless he is obliged to 
do so. To us this may appear a most eccentric habit, but it 
seems to be almost a law. The Chinese has learned by ages 
of experience, that he no sooner pays away money to satisfy 
one debt, than he needs that same money to liquidate other 
debts. In their own figuratively expressive phrase, a single 
cup of water is wanted in three or four places at once, and the 
supply is always as inadequate, as the classical ''cup of water 
to put out the fire in a cart-load of fuel." Knowing this with 
a keenness of apprehension which it is difficult for us to appre- 
ciate, the Chinese holds on fast to his cash till it is wrung from 
him by a force which overcomes his own tenacity of grip. 

5. No Chinese ever pays a debt till he is dunned. To us 
this also seems a strange practice. Most of us have grown up 
with a fixed idea that as a debt must be paid, *' if it were done 
when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly." The 
mind of a Chinese operates in quite a different way. His 
view is, *' If it must be done, it were best done when it is done 
as deliberately as the case admits." 

6. It seems also to be the rule, that no Chinese will pay his 
debts till he has been dunned a great number of times. Here 



NEIV YEAR IN CHINESE TILLAGES 207 

again he is at the opposite pole from that which we occupy. 
We do not like to be dunned, and would rather make consid- 
erable sacrifices than to have needy persons dogging us for the 
collection of debts which we honestly owe, which we must ul- 
timately pay, and not to arrange for the payment of which at 
once is more or less of a disgrace. By ''we" we mean of 
course the average foreigner, for it is not to be denied that 
Western lands have their full proportion of impecunious and 
shameless rascals who ''live off the interest of their debts," 
and who swindle all those whom they can. But the Chinese 
of whom we are speaking do not belong to this class. The 
mass of the Chinese people we believe to be honest, and they 
fully intend to pay all that they owe, but they do not intend to 
pay until they are ready to do so, and neither gods nor men 
can tell when that will be. It is a current saying that when a 
person has many debts he is no longer concerned about them, 
just as when one has many parasites he ceases to scratch ! 

7. In a large proportion of cases, fhe Chinese who pays 
a debtf pays but a part of it at a time. The rest he will try to 
get together in the "third month," "the ninth month," or at 
the "end of the next year." The practical outcome of these 
last three peculiarities is, that the twelfth moon of every Chinese 
year is a time of maximum activity all over the empire. One 
would suppose that a vast amount of work was being accom- 
plished, but the facts are otherwise. One is reminded of the 
Witch in "Alice Behind the Looking-Glass," where the child 
was hurried along on a broomstick at such a rate as to take 
her breath away. She thought she must be traversing illimit- 
able space, but when this idea was communicated to the 
Witch, the latter only laughed, and replied that this was noth- 
ing at all, for they had to go like that to "keep up with 
things " and if they were really to get ahead to any extent, the 
rate of travel must be enormously faster than that ! The rac- 
ing around of the Chinese in their final moon, is just " to keep 
up with things." Every shop, no matter how trifling the sum 



2o8 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

total of its business, has its army of runners out, each '< de- 
manding debts," or rather endeavouring to do so; for to 
achieve it is no such easy matter. The debtor is himself a 
creditor, and he also will be occupied in the effort to call in 
the sums which are owing to him. Each separate individual 
is engaged in the task of trying to chase down the men who 
owe money to him, and compel them to pay up, and at the 
same time in trying to avoid the persons who are struggling to 
track /lim down and corkscrew from him the amount of his in- 
debtedness to them ! The dodges and subterfuges to which 
each is obliged to resort, increase in complexity and number 
with the advance of the season, until at the close of the month, 
the national activity is at fever heat. For if a debt is not se- 
cured then, it will go over till a new year, and no one knows 
what will be the status of a claim which has actually contrived 
to cheat the annual Day of Judgment. In spite of the excel- 
lent Chinese habit of making the close of a year a grand clear- 
ing-house for all debts, Chinese human nature is too much for 
Chinese custom, and there are many of these postponed debts 
which are a grief of mind to many a Chinese creditor. 

The Chinese are at once the most practical and the most 
sentimental of the human race. New Year must not be violated 
by duns for debts, but the debt must be collected New Year 
though it be. For this reason one sometimes sees an urgent 
creditor going about early on the first day of the year carrying 
a lantern looking for his creditor. His artificial light shows 
that by a social fiction the sun has not yet risen, it is still yes- 
terday and the debt can still be claimed ! 

We have but to imagine the application of the principles 
which we have named, to the whole Chinese empire, and we 
get new light upon the nature of the Chinese New Year festivi- 
ties. They are a time of rejoicing, but there is no rejoicing so 
keen as that of a ruined debtor, who has succeeded by shrewd 
devices in avoiding the most relentless of his creditors and has 
thus postponed his ruin for at least another twelve months. 



NEIV YEAR IN CHINESE TILLAGES 209 

For, once past the narrow strait at the end of the year, the 
debtor finds himself again in broad and peaceful waters, where 
he cannot be molested. Even should his creditors meet him 
on New Year's day, there could be no possibility of mentioning 
the fact of the previous day's disgraceful flight and conceal- 
ment, or indeed of alluding to business at all, for this would 
not be "good form," and to the Chinese ''Good Form" 
(otherwise known as Custom), is the chief national divinity. 

An ingenious device by which to secure the desirable result 
that a family shall be sure to have a supply of the food most 
indispensable- for a proper treatment of guests at the festive 
New Year season, is found in what are called New Year 
Societies. Each member of the society contributes a few hun- 
dred or perhaps a thousand cash a month for the first five 
months of the year, until the wheat harvest in June when 
wheat is at its lowest price, for example 1,200 cash for 100 
catties or picul. During the five months which have elapsed, 
the money thus assessed upon the members has been put at in- 
terest, and has already accumulated a handsome income. As 
soon as the new wheat is in the market, the loans are all called 
in, and the treasurer takes the whole of the sum belonging to 
the association and invests it in wheat. This he keeps until 
the close of the year, by which time it is not at all unlikely 
that the price of the grain has doubled. He then exchanges 
the wheat, at the current rate, with some maker of bread-cakes 
{man-Poii), and these are divided among the stockholders. In 
this way, each one gets not only the benefit of the interest on 
loans for five months, but also nearly or quite double the value 
of the wheat bought just after harvest. Sometimes the monthly 
payments are continued throughout the year, and the sum is 
then expended in a lump for bread-cakes, wheat, cotton, or 
whatever each family most needs for the New Year season. In 
societies of this kind, the rate of interest is sure to be at least 
three per cent, per month, and perhaps four per cent. The 
amounts borrowed are usually small, and each borrower must 



2IO VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

have a security from among the contributors to the fund. In 
case payment is not forthcoming at the due date, the next step 
is to raise an uproar, and if possible to collect the debt by force. 
The inevitable and universal uncertainty and difficulty attend- 
ing the collection of any money on loan, give emphasis to the 
adage that ''where the profit is large, the risk is correspond- 
ingly great. ' * 

Extortionate as are the ordinary rates of Chinese interest, 
ranging from twenty-four to forty-eight or more per cent, per 
annum, there are other ways than direct loans, by which even 
greater profits may be gathered. The passion for gambling 
seems to be all-pervasive among the Chinese, and it is perhaps 
a greater bar to the prosperity of the common people than any 
other habit of their lives. Many of the phenomena of Chinese 
cooperation are associated with gambling practices, from which 
the profit to those who manage the finances is very great. In 
all cases where there is money to loan, it is possible to employ 
it for gaming, under the direction of the managers, or trustees. 
Those who are in the habit of gambling do not stop when their 
supply of money fails, but draw upon the bank of the loan as- 
sociation at terms which are agreed upon, but which differ ac- 
cording to circumstances. In an emergency, it might happen 
that a person whose fortune had failed him, would be obliged 
to borrow of the bank, say 800 cash, which in a short time he 
must replace with 1,000. At the end of the year when the ac- 
counts are made up and the money paid in, it is equally di- 
vided among the contributors of the society, whether they may 
have used the capital for gambling or not. In case they have 
borrowed a part of the capital and are not able to repay it, 
their debt is set against their contribution, and they lose their 
investment. 



XX 

THE VILLAGE BULLY 

'^TO adequate understanding of the life of the Chinese is 
-^^ possible without some comprehension of the place 
therein of the bully, and conversely it might almost be said 
that a just apprehension of the character and functions of the 
Chinese bully is equivalent to a comprehension of Chinese so- 
ciety. 

So far as we know, the Chinese bully is a character peculiar 
to China. By this it is not of course meant that other lands 
do not have and have not always had their bullies, but that the 
mode in which Chinese bullies exert their power is unique. It 
depends largely upon the peculiar characteristics of the Chinese 
race, prominent among which is the desire for peace, and a re- 
luctance to engage in a quarrel. The traits of a bully among 
a savage and warlike people such as our ancestors once were, 
and of a bully among such a quiet folk as the Chinese, are in- 
herently different. 

The Chinese have many terms to designate the individual 
whom we have termed a bully, among which one of the most 
common is that which means literally "bare-stick" (kuang- 
kun)j in allusion to the fact that those who are most frequently 
bullies are generally those who have no property to lose. But 
the general term is applicable to any one who plays the part, 
whatever his social condition may be, and it is in this sense 
that we shall employ it. 

In considering the social functions of the bully, it is neces- 
sary to distinguish him from several classes of persons, to any 
one of which he may belong, but from each one of which he 
may be different. These four classes are, — first, headmen of 

211 



212 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the village (called also, as we have already remarked, by many 
other names); second, intermediaries (not ** middlemen" in 
the technical sense, but those who as peace-talkers, intervene 
in the affairs of others) etc.; third, beggars; and lastly 
thieves. 

In China next in importance after the division of human be- 
ings into two sexes, is another classification which every Chi- 
nese instinctively adopts. According to this arrangement, all 
members of society are rated according to their probable be- 
haviour under bad treatment, just as the chemist considers all 
substances in the light of their capacity for combination with 
other elements. 

In the popular speech of the people, every Chinese villager 
is said to be either " lao-shih " or not ** lao-shihy The words 
** lao-shth'' mean literary ''old and solid," or in a derived 
sense gentle, tractable, from which again arises a third signifi- 
cation of stupid, and gullible. The highest degree of this 
latter quality is expressed in the phrase ^^ ssu-lao-shih,^' which 
literally denotes one who is ''dead-stupid " ; that is, one who 
can be imposed upon to any extent. Such a one, in a common 
adage, is compared to the toes on an old woman's feet, which 
have been suppressed all their life, without any power of as- 
serting themselves. 

The village bully is, (as we used to be taught of vulgar 
fractions) of three kinds, simple, compound, and complex. 
The simple bully is a unit by himself, managing his own affairs 
with his own resources. The compound bully calls to his aid 
the power of numbers, and the mysterious and almost irresisti- 
ble talent for combination inherent in the Chinese. The com- 
plex bully is not a bully merely, but has some business or pro- 
fession, in the management of which he is materially aided by 
the fact that he is a man to be feared. 

In his simplest form, a Chinese bully is a man of a more or 
less violent temper and strong passions, who is resolved never 
to " eat loss," and under all circumstances to give as good (or 



THE VILLAGE BULLY 213 

as bad) as he gets. Fortunately for the peace of society, the 
overwhelming majority of the Chinese belong to the *' lao-shih " 
variety. In order to secure the reputation of being not ^Uao- 
shihf^^ a shrewd villager will sometimes adopt the expedient, 
not unknown to other lands, of wearing his clothes in a loose 
and rowdy-like fashion, talking in a boisterous tone, and re- 
senting contradiction or any overt lack of compliance with his 
opinions. 

His cap is worn studiedly awry ; his outer garment instead 
of being decorously fastened, is left purposely unlooped ; his 
abundant hair is braided into a loose cue apparently as thick as 
his arm, the plaiting beginning several inches away from the 
head : the end of the cue is generally coiled about his neck or 
over his head (a gross breach of Chinese etiquette), as if to 
show that he thirsts for a fight. His outer leggings are not im- 
probably so tied as to display a lining which is more expensive 
than the outside ; and his shoes are invariably worn down at 
the heel, perhaps to make an ostentatious display of a silk em- 
broidered heel to the cotton stocking — a touch of splendour 
adapted to strike awe into the rustic beholder. In a time of 
intense excitement over alleged kidnapping of children, we have 
known a man to be apprehended in open court and examined 
as a bad character, because the colour of his clothes was un- 
usual. 

By persistently following out his peculiar lines of action, he 
will not unlikely succeed in diffusing the impression that he is 
a dangerous man to interfere with, and will in consequence be 
let severely alone. A cat of even a small experience will not 
improbably manifest considerable hesitation before attempting 
to swallow a lizard. It is evident, therefore, that if any small 
reptile is obliged to associate with cats, the art of simulating a 
lizard is a valuable one. The grade of bully of which we are 
now speaking is in all Chinese society too common to attract 
much notice, and he can be avoided by letting him alone. His 
weapons, like the walls of Chinese cities, are defensive only. 



214 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Much more to be dreaded is the bully who will not let others 
alone, but who is always inserting himself into their affairs 
with a view to extracting some benefit for himself. The most 
dangerous type of these men is the one who makes very little 
ado, but whose acts are ruinous to those whom he wishes to in- 
jure. Such a one is aptly likened to a dog which bites without 
showing his teeth. 

The tactics which such a man adopts to establish his claim 
to the rank of "village king," are the same with which we are 
only too familiar in other lands, and which an advancing civili- 
zation has not yet succeeded in rendering wholly obsolete. If 
there is no overt act which he sees his way to commit, he can 
always pick a quarrel by reviling, which is regarded as throw- 
ing down a glove of defiance. Not to notice such a challenge 
is from a Chinese standpoint almost impossible. '< To be re- 
viled and to feel no pain," this is the Chinese ideal of shame- 
lessness. Nothing is rarer than to find a Chinese who has been 
reviled, and who, when he was strong enough to demand an 
apology, has allowed the matter to drop. 

The intricate constitution of Chinese society is such that 
there is a great variety of acts which, while they may not be 
directly hostile, must be understood in the light of a challenge. 
If for example a bully has let it be known that he is determined 
that a theatrical representation shall take place the next autumn 
in his village, for some one to oppose it might not improbably 
be such an act of hostility as to amount to a challenge. The 
bully must then see that the theatre is engaged, or his '' face '* 
is lost, which one may be sure will never happen as long as he 
is able to prevent it. 

There is always about one of these village bullies a general 
atmosphere of menace, as if he were thirsting for an oppor- 
tunity to issue an ultimatum. He often does so, in a singularly 
vague manner, the significance of which is, however, perfectly 
well understood. If A is the bully, and B is known to oppose 
him, then A publicly states that if B does so and so, A will not 



THE VILLAGE BULLY 215 

put up with it {pu suan t^a^ literally, <'will not take the ac- 
count," but insinuating a dark hint as to consequences). If B 
takes the hint and quietly retires, there is peace, but otherwise 
there is war. 

One of the qualifications which is very convenient for the 
village bully, although not absolutely indispensable, is physical 
strength. One of the nicknames of the local bully as just re- 
marked, is that of village king. Among those whose forte is 
violence, the king must be a man who has inherent power, 
"the man who can," for it is impossible to say at what mo- 
ment all his strength will be needed in some fight. 

It is in view of this consideration, that it is very common for 
young fellows who wish to distinguish themselves among their 
comrades, to take systematic lessons in "fist-and-foot," that is, 
in gymnastics. A high degree of skill in wrestling, and the 
ability (as alleged) to deliver such a blow with the fist as shall 
knock out a brick from a wall a foot thick, are in many cir- 
cumstances valuable accomplishments. 

The writer is well acquainted with a young man who en- 
joyed the reputation of being the strongest person in his village. 
Being sent on an errand to a distant city, he had occasion to 
pass through a smaller city some forty H from his home, where 
he was not known. Here a number of bullies, who happened 
to be gathered in front of the district yam6n, struck with his 
rusticity, stopped him, and demanded who he was and where 
he was going. His replies to their inquiries not being suffi- 
ciently prompt to give satisfaction, he was set upon by several 
men, who attacked him simultaneously. Here his " fist-and- 
foot " skill was of great service ; for though two men were on 
top of him, he was able to seize the ankle of one of them and 
to give it such a fearful twist as almost to dislocate the joint, 
whereupon his assailants, howling with pain, were only too glad 
to release him. At a later date the matter was looked into, 
and at the feast which the attacking party was compelled to 
give, by way of apology, one of those present hobbled around 



2i6 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

in a particularly feeble manner, and freely expressed the opinion 
that upon this occasion he had mistaken his man ! 

In the numerous cases in which persons are imposed upon by 
a bully who is too much for them, their earliest thoughts are 
how it may be practicable to collect a band of men, expert in 
the **fist-and-foot " practices, and make an attack upon the 
aggressive party, by which means he may be suppressed. The 
writer once met a man whose home is in a village noted as the 
headquarters of a daring and unscrupulous band of thieves. 
Having been robbed by them with no prospect of any redress 
through legal channels, this man collected a band of athletes 
and attacked the thieves in the vicinity of the village where 
they made their home, so belabouring them that the band re- 
moved its headquarters elsewhere. 

It is a useful, but by no means a necessary qualification of the 
bully, that he should be a poor man, with nothing to lose. Pov- 
erty in China is often a synonym for the most abject misery and 
want. The entire possessions of great numbers of the people 
would not amount in value to five dollars, and thousands of per- 
sons never know whence the next meal is to come. Such persons 
would in European countries constitute what are called " the dan- 
gerous classes." In China, unless their distress is extreme, they 
do not mass themselves, and they seldom wage war against soci- 
ety as a whole. But individuals of this type may, if they have 
other requisite abilities, become ''village kings," and order the 
course of current events much according to their own will. 

Such persons, in the figurative language of the Chinese, are 
called ''barefoot men," in allusion to their destitute condition, 
and it is a common saying that " the barefoot man (otherwise 
known as ' mud-legs ') is not afraid of him who has stockings 
on his feet," for the former can at once retreat into the mud, 
where the latter dare not follow. In other words, the barefoot 
man is able to hold in terror the man who has property to lose, 
by an open or an implicit threat of vengeance, against which 
the man of property cannot safeguard himself. 



THE yiLLAGE BULLY 217 

The forms which this vengeance will take vary according to 
circumstances. One of the most common is that of incendiary 
fires, which, in a thickly inhabited village, where there is often 
a large accumulation of fuel stacked up, is a mode of attack 
particularly to be dreaded. It is always easy to set a fire, but 
difficult and frequently impossible to extinguish it. We have 
known numberless instances of this sort, in which, despite all 
diligence, no one was ever detected in setting the fire. The 
terror which such fires inspire is so great, that the man who is 
thought to be specially liable to them may be marked and 
avoided for that reason alone. It is considered unsafe to have 
anything to do with him, much less to aid him in extinguishing 
his fires. In one case of this sort, the same individual was re- 
peatedly visited with incendiary fires, and on the last occasion 
all his carts were totally destroyed, nothing remaining but the 
tires of the wheels. It was afterward found that strong leather 
straps had been used to bind the wheels to the framework of the 
shed in which they were kept, so that any attempt to drag the 
carts out was certain to fail. 

Another method by which the bully signifies his dissatisfac- 
tion with his enemy, is by injuring his crops. In a country 
where the farms are subdivided into mere fragments, every 
farmer's land is contiguous to that of a great number of other 
persons. As already mentioned a large farm will often consist 
of scores of different pieces of ground, which have been 
bought as opportunity offered. When the land is planted, and 
again when the harvest is gathered, excellent opportunity is af- 
forded for disputes. The little bushes which serve as bound- 
aries of the fields of different owners, in regions where stone 
posts are too expensive, are readily destroyed or removed, and 
in any case the boundaries are more or less inexact, leaving 
room for uncertainty as to the precise point at which one piece 
of ground ends and another begins. 

It is in such situations as this that the bully is at his best. It 
is well understood that he will suff'er no loss, and that whoever 



2i8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

happens to be his neighbour, will literally have '* a hard row to 
hoe." There are sometimes sections of ground, such as those 
belonging to public uses, river embankments, the land of cer- 
tain temples, and the like, which no one but a bully could cul- 
tivate at all, because the crops must be defended against in- 
vasion from all quarters, and only a bully can furnish the 
necessary skill and ferocity to protect himself. 

In his essay on Lord Clive, Macaulay mentions the circum- 
stance which was still remembered in Shropshire, that in his 
boyish days the great Indian soldier *< formed all the idle lads 
of the town into a kind of predatory army, and compelled the 
shopkeepers to submit to a tribute of apples and half-pence, in 
consideration of which he guaranteed the security of the win- 
dows." Young Robert Clive had hit upon the precise principle 
by which the Chinese bully maintains himself in perpetual rule, 
a principle indeed as old as the race : 

" The good old rule, the simple plan 
That those should take who have the power, 
And those should keep who can." 

The means of enforcing these exactions is always at hand, 
and is expressed in one fateful and compound noun, law- suit. 
The bully who understands his business is well acquainted with 
every one at the district yamen, and is in fact one of their best 
customers, or rather the man who brings them their custom. 
The yamSn is the spider's web, and the bully is the large insect 
which drives the flies into the net, where it will go ill with them 
ere they escape. 

If his adversary is rich, the bully may adopt the plan of 
leaving a bag of smuggled salt in the doorway of the rich man, 
at the same time taking care to have a " salt inspector " ready 
to seize the salt, and bring an accusation against the man of 
means as a defier of the law. The *'salt inspectors" are 
themselves smugglers, selected for their expertness in the art, 
and like all other underlings in Chinese official life they are 




Entrance to a Yamen. 




Chinese Court of Justice. 



THE VILLAGE BULLY 219 

quite free from the trammels of any sort of conscience. From 
a suit of this kind no rich man would be likely to escape with- 
out the sacrifice of many thousand strings of cash, being not 
improbably forced to furnish the funds for repairing a city wall, 
for rebuilding a temple, or some other public work. The ca- 
pacity to conduct successfully a lawsuit is in China what it 
must have been in Bagdad during the time of the Caliph 
Haroun Al Raschid to wear the Cap of Darkness and Shoes of 
Swiftness. Such agencies defy all foes except those similarly 
equipped. And as in the Arabian Nights there are many stories 
of magicians warring with magicians who also "did so with 
their enchantments, ' ' in like manner when Chinese bullies meet 
in a legal fight at a yamen, it is a battle of giants. 

The most expert of all this dreaded class is the bully who is 
also a literary man, perhaps a hstu-ts^ai, or Bachelor of Arts, 
and who thus has a special prestige of his own, securing him a 
hearing where others would fail of it, guaranteeing him im- 
munity from beating in open court, to which others are liable, 
and enabling him to prepare accusations for himself or others, 
and to be certain of the bearing of these documents upon the 
case in hand. 

These advantages are so great, that it is not uncommon to 
find persons who make no secret of the fact that their main 
motive in submitting to the toils requisite to gain the lowest lit- 
erary degree, is that they may be able, during the rest of their 
lives, to make use of this leverage as a means of raising them- 
selves and of harming their neighbours. Any Chinese bully is 
greatly to be feared, but none is so formidable as the literary 
bully. 

One other type of Chinese bully must not fail of mention, 
for it is in some respects the most unique of all, to wit the fe- 
male bully. Her traits are, mutatis mutandis, the same as 
those of the individuals already mentioned, but her mere ex- 
istence is so great a departure from our ordinary conceptions 
of Chinese social life, that it needs a word of explanation. She 



2ao VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

is simply an evolution of her surroundings. Skill in speech, 
physical violence in act, and an executive talent are her endow- 
ments, and her usefulness to the perennially hungry *' wolves 
and tigers ' ' of the yamen is such that she is called their 
draught-horse to draw victims. Like her male compatriots, she 
is able from her value to the underlings of the yamSn to con- 
duct a lawsuit of her own, without any of those numberless 
and vexatious expenses which suck out the lifeblood of ordi- 
nary victims. This makes her a terrible, if not an invulnerable, 
foe, and those who are wise will beware of her. According to 
a Chinese proverb, a woman is more to be dreaded in such 
cases than a graduate of the second degree. It is a saying of 
a certain humorous philosopher, that " one hornet can break up 
a whole camp-meeting, when he feels well." How much mis- 
chief one Chinese bully can accomplish in an average lifetime , 
it is impossible to estimate. 

While the government of China appears to have elements of 
extreme stability, it is at the same time often practically weak 
in the very points where it most needs strength, namely, in its 
capacity to put forth powerful and sudden efforts. Whenever 
any uprising of the people takes place, there is generally noth- 
ing to prevent its gaining a great momentum, owing to the in- 
capacity of the local authorities to cope with it. The same 
phenomenon is seen in any personal affray between single indi- 
viduals. There are no police to arrest the one who commits a 
breach of the peace, and it is only by the intervention of third 
parties, friendly to the principals, that order is restored. But 
if either of the parties is able to bring a large force to bear 
upon the person whom he attacks, he is almost certain to be 
victorious. 

It is at this point that the organization of the followers of the 
bully proves a formidable foe to the peace of Chinese society. 
Let us suppose that a man has a violent personal quarrel with 
an enemy. An outbreak of their feud occurs at a great fair, 
such as abound at almost all seasons of the year. One of the 



THE VILLAGE BULLY 221 

men is intimate with another man who is a professional bully 
and who has within call a number of associates who can be de- 
pended upon in an emergency. The man who knows the bully 
goes to him and tells him of the grievance and asks his help. 
The bully lets it be known among his comrades that a friend is 
in need of assistance, and that their services will be called for. 
The party assembled goes to that section of the fair-ground 
where congregate the dealers in sticks used for supports for 
awnings, etc., and each man "borrows " a stout sapling, prom- 
ising to return it later. With this lawless band, like the forces 
of Robin Hood, the bully sets upon his victim and wins an 
easy victory. None of the spectators will interfere in a brawl 
of this sort, for the consequences might be most serious. It 
does not follow that there is any regular organization among 
the rough members of the dangerous classes who are assembled, 
except that they are ready to unite in anything which promises 
the joy of battle, and a probable reward in the shape of a com- 
plimentary feast. 

Cases of this sort, which are by no means of infrequent oc- 
currence, exhibit the weakness of the Chinese government, but 
they also exhibit its strength. If the millions of China were 
not satisfied with the existing rule, nothing would be easier 
than for them to unite and overthrow it. But the security of 
the government is based mainly upon the well-understood and 
well-ascertained fact that the people as a whole have no wish to 
overturn the system under which they live, as well as upon the 
equally indisputable fact that, with the Chinese, effective combi- 
nation is an exceedingly difficult matter. 

The assemblage of bands of men under the virtual direction 
of a leader is a menace to the peace of the whole region in 
which they live, and it is not strange that Magistrates of such 
Districts live a life which is not to be envied. As plunder is 
often the real object of these combinations, the yamdn of the 
Magistrate is as likely to be the point of attack as any other 
place, which makes it necessary that the official shall provide 



222 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

himself with trained athletes, who shall be able to meet and re- 
pel assaults made at night. Cases are occasionally reported in 
the Peking Gazette^ where in spite of this precaution the yaraSn 
was robbed, and the seal actually carried off, to the ruin of the 
Magistrate, upon whom perhaps the people are glad to be re- 
venged. 

The existence of such small and lawless forces in the midst 
of Chinese social life, quiet and orderly as that life ordinarily 
is, renders it certain that outbreaks will continually occur. But 
these attacks are not all from one side. There are in Chinese 
many proverbial sayings referring to the tiger, which have a 
metaphorical significance, and really denote the person whom 
we have named the bully, who is regarded as a social tiger. 
One of these sayings is to the effect that a tiger who has 
wounded too many men, is liable to fall into a mountain ra- 
vine. This means that the bully who has made enemies of too 
many people will at last himself fall into trouble, and then his 
enemies will be able to have their revenge upon him. 

Cases of this sort are constantly occurring, and often result in 
one or more murders, which must be reported, and which are 
sometimes narrated in detail in the Peking Gazette. It is not 
uncommon to hear of instances in which bullies have been at- 
tacked by large bands of men, many of them formerly the vic- 
tims of the bully. Sometimes he is kidnapped, and sometimes 
he is killed outright. The method by which the village wars 
and clan fights of the Fu-kien and Kuang-tung provinces are 
conducted, probably bears a close analogy to these proceedings. 
They appear to be trials of strength between neighbouring 
rivals, conducted upon the plan of warfare during the middle 
ages in which the feudal system reigned. The local Magis- 
trates take care not to interfere too soon or too far, lest it be 
the worse for them. When the fight is over the officers put in 
an appearance, arrests are made, and the machinery of govern- 
ment recovers from its temporary paralysis. 

We have spoken of the literary bully as one of those most to 



THE VILLAGE BULLY 223 

be dreaded in China. But there is another qualification which 
a bully may possess, either with or without that of learning, 
which makes him an almost irresistible enemy. If he belongs to 
a family, one or more members of which are in official life and 
have a certain degree of power with the official class, such a 
man is a dangerous foe. Instances are constantly coming to 
light, not only in the native papers of China but also in me- 
morials in the Peking Gazette (to which we have so frequently 
had occasion to refer), showing how difficult, or rather how al- 
together hopeless, it is to deal with such offenders. Even in 
cases of the most wanton murder, there is always some way by 
which the matter can be adjusted, and there is no assurance 
that the influential culprit gets any real punishment at all. 

The following instance which occurred more than a genera- 
tion ago, in a District near to that in which the writer lived for 
a long time, illustrates the kind of proceedings to which refer- 
ence is made. 

During the eighteenth century there lived in that County a 
family named Lu, one of the members of which attained to the 
lofty eminence of Ko Lao, or Grand Secretary. A family of 
this class, especially if it should be the only one of the sort in 
the District, exerts a commanding influence, and it is necessary 
for the local Magistrate to conduct himself discreetly, in order 
not to win the ill-will of such a powerful corporation. It is 
well if he is able to collect from them even the ordinary land- 
tax, which all the soil of the empire is supposed to pay. 

It is related of this family that, upon one occasion having 
been ordered by the District Magistrate to collect this tax, the 
local constable was unable to do as he was told. Having been 
repeatedly beaten for his delinquencies in this respect, he pre- 
sented himself at the entrance of the premises of his wealthy 
neighbour, and with earnest prostrations begged the gate- 
keeper to intercede for him, and get the tax paid. 

The elderly widow who was the manager of the establish- 
ment, having been informed of this plea, ordered her cart 



224 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

harnessed, and proceeded to the District Magistrate's yam^n, 
for an interview. The official perhaps entertained a wild hope 
that she had come to settle up her arrears of taxes, and even 
planned to borrow a sum of money of her, but she soon dis- 
pelled this idea, by telling him in so many words that she her- 
self required a '* loan " of a certain number of thousands of 
taels, which the Magistrate was obliged to promise to get for 
her, at the earliest possible moment. As she rose to take her 
leave, she remarked incidentally that her gatekeeper had been 
much annoyed by some of the yamen underlings who hung 
about the premises under pretence of wanting a grain-tax, ad- 
ding that she should expect to hear no more of such proceed- 
ings in future ! 

Upon another occasion, while the Xo Lao himself was 
alive, a complaint was made to the District Magistrate that a 
son of the Ko Lao had a maidservant, who was virtually im- 
prisoned in the family mansion. She was originally hired 
having been betrothed, but although it was time for her to be 
married, her employer refused to let her go. The Magistrate 
sent for the son of the Ko Lao, made known the charge, and 
desired the release of the person detained. He even went to 
the length of beating the attendant of the Lu family, who had 
accompanied his master, the latter being himself too lofty a 
subject for punishment. The son went to his home in a tower- 
ing rage, and wrote a letter to his father in Peking, detailing 
the circumstances. Soon after this, the Magistrate received 
the news of his promotion from the grade of Sub-prefect to that 
of Prefect, in the province of Ssu-ch'uan. 

The journey to a new post is often a most serious matter for 
an official, and where, as in this case, he has the entire empire 
to cross, the trouble and expense are very great. He had no 
sooner reached this distant post, than he received a notification 
that he was promoted to another in the province of Yiin-nan, 
again involving an expensive and tedious journey. When he 
had at length taken up the duties of this office it was only to 



THE VILLAGE BULLY 225 

be informed that he was promoted afresh to the high rank of 
Tao-t'ai in a region beyond the Great Wall. He now began 
to perceive the significance of this strange series of events, and 
wholly unable either to bear the ills which he already had, or 
to support the prospect of perhaps greater ones yet to come, he 
** swallowed gold," and thus escaped further promotion and 
ruin ! 



XXI 

VILLAGE HEADMEN 

TVyTANY of the phenomena of village life which we shall 
'^^-*' have occasion to notice, are instances of the Chinese 
talent for cooperation. 

Perhaps no more important exemplification of this prin- 
ciple is to be found in Chinese society than that embodied 
in the local self-government of the small communities of 
which the greater part of the empire is composed. The 
management of the village is in the hands of the people them- 
selves. At first this condition of affairs is liable to be mistaken 
for a pure democracy, but very slight inquiry is sufficient to 
make it evident that while all matters of local concern are theo- 
retically managed by the people, in practice the burden falls 
not upon the people as a whole, but upon the shoulders of a 
few persons, who in different places are called by different 
titles and whose functions differ as much as their designations. 

The apparent dead-level uniformity of China is found upon 
investigation to be subject to surprising variations, not only in 
parts of the empire remote from one another, but in those which 
are separated by but a short distance. On this account it is 
difficult to generalize in regard to the government of villages in 
general, but easy to describe that of some villages, with the ex- 
planation that elsewhere the same results may be attained by 
means slightly different, or by the same means under different 
names. 

Every Chinese village is a little principality by itself, al- 
though it is not uncommon for two or more which are contigu- 
ous and perhaps otherwise linked together, to manage their 
affairs in unison, and perhaps by the same set of persons. 

226 



VILLAGE HEADMEN 227 

These headmen are sometimes styled village elders (Jistang 
changy or hsiang lao), and sometimes they are termed merely 
managers (shou shihjen). The theory in regard to these per- 
sons is that they are chosen, or rather nominated, by their fel- 
low-townsmen, and confirmed in their position by the District 
Magistrate. In some regions this is actually done, and for the 
good conduct of the headmen in their office the leading land- 
owners are required to become a security. 

The designation "village elders" might be understood to j 
denote that the persons who bear it are the oldest men in the 
village, but this is not necessarily the case. Neither are they 
necessarily the wealthiest men, although it is probable that 
every family of property will be in some way represented among 
them. They are not necessarily men of literary attainments, 
although this may be the case with a few. 

In those regions where the method of selection is most loose, , 
the number of headmen has no necessary relation to the size of 
the village ; the position is not hereditary, neither is there any 
fixed time of service. A man may act in this capacity at one 
time, and refuse or neglect to do so at another time. Where 
this plan prevails, the headmen are not formally chosen, nor 
formally deposed. They drop into their places-rpr perhaps 
climb into them — by a kind of natural selection. The quali- 
ties which fit a villager to act as headman are the same which 
contribute to success in any line of business. He must be a 
practical person who has some native ability, acquainted with 
the ways of the world, as well as able and willing to devote 
upon occasion an indefinite amount of time and attention to the 
affairs which may be put in his charge. 

The duties and functions of the headmen are numerous. / 
They may be classified as those which have relation to the gov- 
ernment of the District, those which relate to the village as 
such, and those which concern private individuals, and are 
brought to the notice of the headmen as being the persons best 
able to manage them. 



v^ 



228 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Of the affairs which concern the government, the most im- 
portant is the imperial land or grain-tax, the nature of which 
and the mode of collecting which vary greatly. Calls are con- 
stantly made by the local officials for government transporta- 
tion, provision for the entertainment of officers on government 
business, materials for the repairs of the banks of rivers, work 
on river-banks, patrols for the Imperial roads at the season of 
year when travel is at its maximum, and many other similar 
objects. 

The medium through whom the District Magistrate com- 
municates with the village, is the "local constable," (called 
the ti-fang or ti-pao,) and this individual has necessarily inti- 
mate relations with the headmen, who constitute the executive 
board, through which alone definite action is taken. 

Among affairs which relate to a village as such, are to be 
/ named the construction and repair of the wall (if it has one), 
and the care of the gates (if they are closed at night), the es- 
tablishment and supervision of fairs and markets, the engage- 
ment of theatrical companies, the organized watching of the 
crops, together with the punishment of persons detected in vio- 
lating the rules which have been agreed upon, the building and 
repair of temples, the sinking of wells for the use of the village, 
or the cleaning of those which are already in use, and a great 
variety of other similar duties, depending upon the situation of 
the village and its traditions and circumstances. 
/ It is a noteworthy fact that the government of China, while 
I in theory more or less despotic, places no practical restrictions 
1 upon the right of free assemblage by the people for the consid- 
\ eration of their own affairs. The people of any village can if 
/ they choose meet every day in the year. There is no govern- 
ment censor present, and no restriction upon liberty of debate. 
The people can say what they like, and the local Magistrate 
neither knows nor cares what is said. The government has 
other security for itself than espionage, and by a system of 
graded responsibility, is able to hold all its subjects under strict 



yiLLAGE HEADMEN 229 

control. But should insurrection break out, these popular 
rights might be extinguished in a moment, a fact of which all 
the people are perfectly well aware. 

The methods of Chinese management being what they are, it 
is not surprising that those who are in the position of headmen 
find it, or rather make it to their advantage to stay in it. The 
ways in which this comes about are numerous. 

There is in every village an unceasing supply of matters 
which do not belong to the public, but which must be adjusted 
by some man or men who are in the habit of transacting busi- 
ness, and who not only know what is to be done but how to do 
it. There are always Chinese who like to engage in these af- • 
fairs, such as the adjustment of domestic quarrels, differences 
between neighbours, and the like. The headmen of the village j 
will be certain to be frequently called upon for services of this sort. \ 

But such labours, onerous as they often are, will be acknowl- ' 
edged only by the thanks of those interested, and a participa- 
tion in the inevitable final feast. It is quite otherwise with 
such public matters as the collection of material for public uses, 
and the disbursement of public funds. Every village has nu- 
merous enterprises which involve the handling of money, and 
these enterprises must be in the hands of those competent to 
take charge of them. 

There is not in such cases that constant struggle between the 
"ins" and the "outs," which is seen in lands where the de- 
mocracy is of a more flagrant type than in China. Yet even 
in China such contests do sometimes occur. We know of one 
village in which the public business had for a long time been 
monopolized by a band of men who had subjected themselves 
to the criticisms of those who, although younger, felt sure that 
they were not oii that account the less capable. The result of 
the criticisms was that the incumbents withdrew from their 
places, leaving them to those who offered the criticisms, a 
method of adjustment which is known to be practiced in the 
government of the empire. 



230 VILLAGE UFE IN CHINA 

But it is probable that cases of such easy victory are relatively 
rare, for the reason that Ihe *' ins " have every opportunity to 
keep themselves in their position, and they are for the most 
part not at all sensitive to criticism, being quite content to reap 
the substantial benefits of their position, and to leave the talk- 
ing to spectators. In the ordinary matters of routine, it is easy 
for them to find abundant precedents for almost any irregular- 
ity, and to the Chinese precedents- are most precious, as mark- 
ing out the natural limits of human action. 

In many villages but a small portion of the population can 
read well enough to inspect accounts, and many of those whose 
knowledge is equal to this strain upon it, have no practical 
familiarity with public business, with which they have never 
had any opportunity to become acquainted. 

Many who clearly recognize the evils attending the methods 
in which the business of their village is managed, do not for 
two excellent reasons make any protest. In the first place, to 
do so would raise a storm about their heads, which they have 
no wish to encounter. Even if the movement should prove 
completely successful, and the present incumbents should all be 
removed from their places, it would be difficult, not to say im- 
possible, to find others who would manage matters upon any 
plan essentially different. A change would be simply the re- 
moval of a well-fed swarm of flies, to make way for a set much 
more hungry, a substitution against which the fox in the fable 
wisely remonstrated. The Chinese wholly agree with the saga- 
\ cious fox. 

The course which matters take when complaint is really 
made, may be understood by an illustrative example with 
which the writer is acquainted. During one of the years in 
which the Yellow River made destructive breaks in central 
Shan-tung, an order was issued that all the counties in the 
province accessible to the river should furnish a certain quota 
of millet stalks to be used in the repair of the river-banks. 
These stalks were to be paid for in ready money by the govern- 



VILLAGE HEADMEN 231 

ment agents. But as some of the counties were situated more 
than two days' journey from the river-banks, the amount re- 
ceived for the stalks did not cover the cost of the feed of men 
and animals for so long a journey. Besides this, the govern- 
ment officials had a ready means by which to exercise com- 
plete control over those who brought the stalks, by refusing to 
take over the material or to weigh it until such time as the 
officials might be ready. By this means, both men and teams 
were kept on expense, so that at last the persons who hauled 
stalks were only too glad to be allowed to depart without any 
pay at all for the loads which they had brought. 

Abuses of this sort were said to be exceedingly common at 
that time, although on subsequent occasions we have been as- 
sured by those who have taken stalks to river-embankment, 
that full pay in good money was invariably given. In the vil- 
lage to which we refer, the business of providing and deliver- 
ing the stalks was put by the District Magistrate into the hands 
of an elderly headman, a literary graduate. This man natur- 
ally called about him some of his former pupils, who did the 
practical part of the work. They took stalks three times to the 
place of deposit, and received in payment about 70,000 
cash. Taking advantage of the general uncertainty which 
prevailed in regard to payments, these managers rendered no 
accounts to the village, but proceeded to appropriate a certain 
part of their receipts to their own use. 

Matters continued in this way for more than a year, when 
some of those who were dissatisfied, called a public meeting in 
a village temple, and demanded a clear account of receipts and 
expenses, which for reasons well understood, it was impossible 
to give. Finding that the affair was becoming serious, the 
graduate got some residents of the same village to *' talk peace " 
to the excited villagers. Their argument was this: ''If we 
press this matter, and take it before the District Magistrate, 
the old graduate, who is really altogether innocent, will lose 
his button and will be disgraced. The others concerned will 



232 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

all be beaten, and this will engender hatred and feuds which 
will last for generations." The middlemen then proposed that 
by way of settlement a feast should be prepared by the grad- 
uate, at which a representative of every surname in the village 
should be present, and this plan being adopted, because noth- 
ing else was feasible, the matter was buried in compulsory 
oblivion. This is a type of a large class of cases. 

In many villages, there are those who are never so happy as 
when they are in a disturbance with others, and such men will 
be a thorn in the side of any '< board of aldermen " to whose 
councils admission is not to be had. It is very common indeed 
to hear of lawsuits arising about village temples, and there is 
good reason to believe that it is exceptional to meet with a 
large ancestral temple, in connection with which quarrels have 
not arisen and perhaps lawsuits been prosecuted. 

In some districts the temples are built rather from a general 
impulse to do as others do than from any sense of the need of 
such structures, which become a perpetual tax on the revenues 
of the people and a source of dispute. In such regions it is a 
common thing to meet with temples from which the priests 
have been ousted, or which they have voluntarily abandoned, 
finding the place too hot for them. 

In one instance of this description, which occurred near the 
writer's home, a certain prominent headman set on foot a law- 
suit which drove several priests from a Buddhist monastery, 
and left only one priest where before there had been many. 
After the priests had left, this headman kindly took charge of 
the temple lands, and absorbed the entire income himself to 
the exclusion of the priest, dispensing altogether with rendering 
any account whatever for the proceeds. Even the cart and the 
harness which belong to the temple, are in this man's yard as 
if they were his own. 

Intelligent men of this village, when asked why some of thera 
do not protest against this usurpation, always make the same 
reply: "Who wants to stir up a lawsuit, out of which he will 



VILLAGE HEADMEN 333 

gain nothing but loss? It is certainly no affair of mine." 
This particular village is scarcely a type of the average, but it 
is a very fair sample of the more flagrant cases in which a small 
knot of men fasten themselves upon a Chinese community, by 
the same process by which many years ago the Tweed ring 
saddled themselves upon the city of New York. If any objec- 
tion is made to their procedure, the ring inquire disdainfully, 
in the language of Mr. Tweed, "What are you going to do 
about it? " And all the people hasten to reply, "Oh, nothing 
at all. It is all right as it is." 

An instance of the facility with which trouble may arise in 
village affairs was afforded in this same town, during one of 
the years in which heavy rains threatened the lands of the vil- 
lage. A part of these lands were situated in a region subject 
to inundation, and the rest on higher ground. As soon as the 
danger of a flood became apparent, the village headmen ordered 
relays of men to work on a bank, which was made of whatever 
soil was at hand, and in order to strengthen this bank, the stand- 
ing millet was pulled up by the roots, and buried in the earth- 
work. Those whose crops were thus ruined, had for this loss 
no redress whatever. It is held that the exigency of a public 
need justifies any injury of this kind, the persons who benefit 
by the sacrifice, always largely in the majority, having no dis- 
position to make up the incidental losses. Some days after this 
occurred, the headmen went about collecting a definite assess- 
ment from each acre of land in the village, for the purpose of 
paying for the labour upon the bank previously made. They 
visited the house of one of the men whose crops had been de- 
stroyed, at a time when he chanced to be away from home and 
were met by his son, who not only manifested no awe of the 
village authorities, but expressed his indignation at the destruc- 
tion of the family crops, and declared that instead of being 
called upon to contribute to the cost of the ruin which had 
been wrought, his family ought to be reimbursed for their own 
losses. However compatible such a view may appear with ab- 



a34 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

stract justice, to the minds of the village headmen this was 
nothing less than rank treason of the most dangerous type. 

When the head of the family returned, it was to find that the 
headmen had already left the village on their way to the Dis- 
trict city, to enter a complaint against him, as one who refused 
to pay his just dues to the defence of the village. A lawsuit 
begun upon such a basis meant nothing less than a calamity 
greater than any flood that was likely to overtake him, so the 
distracted father hastened to pursue the headmen with offers of 
adjustment, made through third parties. By dint of an im- 
mense amount of talking, the headmen were induced to return 
to the village, without entering the city and making a formal 
complaint. 

The father of the offending lad then appealed to certain 
friends living in another village, to come and intercede for him 
with the outraged guardians of the welfare of his own village. 
In the course of the next forenoon, the persons who had been 
entrusted with this difficult task, made their way to the village, 
and had interviews with some of the headmen. It was impos- 
sible to get all of these men together at any one time, but one set 
was first seen, and then another, until the matter had been 
thoroughly discussed in all its bearings. These conferences, 
including plans of adjustment offered, modified, rejected, 
amended, and afterward brought up again and again, actually 
consumed the whole day, and all the next night until the crow- 
ing of the cocks announced the dawn, and it was not until day- 
light on the second day, that the weary and disgusted " mid- 
dlemen " returned to their own village, having at last succeeded 
in securing a reduction of the proposed fine, which was to have 
been an exemplary one, to a merely nominal amount. 

This instance is a type of countless cases everywhere in 
which the evil forces of Chinese society effect a cooperation of 
their own, seriously modifying all other social phenomena, and 
leading to results of great importance. 



PART II 

Village Family Life 



XXII 

VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 

^"T^ HERE is a passage in one of the oldest Chinese 
•^ Classics, the Book of Odes, which, in describing the 
palace of an ancient king, shows in a striking light the rela- 
tive estimation at that remote time put upon boys and upon girls. 
After speaking of the dreams of the king, the poet adds a cou- 
ple of stanzas, which, according to Dr. Legge's translation, are 
as follows : 

Sons shall be born to him ; they will be put to sleep on couches ; 

They will be clothed in robes ; they will have sceptres to play with ; 

Their cry will be loud. 

They will be (hereafter) resplendent with red knee-covers, 

The (future) king, the princes of the land. 

Daughters will be born to him. They will be put to sleep on the ground ; 

They will be clothed with wrappers ; they will have tiles to play with. 

It will be theirs neither to do wrong nor to do good. 

Only about the spirits and the food will they have to think, 

And to cause no sorrow to their parents. 

From the sentiment of this poem alone it would be easy to 
determine the Chinese of to-day to be lineal descendants of 
their ancient ancestors. 

The early years of a Chinese boy are spent in what, viewed 
from the experience of a decade later, must appear to him a 
condition of supreme happiness. He is welcomed to the 
household with a wild delight, to which it is wholly impossible 
for an Occidental to do any justice. He begins life on the 
theory that whatever he wants, that he must have ; this theory 
is also the one acted upon by those who have him in charge, to 

237 



238 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

an extent which seems to us, who occupy the position of im- 
partial critics, truly amazing, A Chinese mother is the literal 
slave of her children. If they cry, they must be coddled, 
most probably carried about, and at whatever expense, if it is 
possible to prevent such a terrible state of things. They must 
not be allowed to cry continuously. In this respect, at least, it 
does not appear that there is much distinction between the 
treatment of boys and girls. 

The names given to Chinese children, like those of the 
babies of North American Indians, are frequently suggested by 
whatever happens first to attract the father's attention, such as 
Basket, Cart, etc. Each year of the cycle of twelve has an 
animal which ^'belongs to" it, as Dog, Cat, Chicken, Tiger, 
Horse or Monkey, and all these names are constantly em- 
ployed. If when the child is born an old grandmother hap- 
pens to be three score and ten, he is not improbably dubbed 
"Seventy." Many have no other appellation than a numer- 
ical one such as Three, Five, or Six, to the hopeless confusion 
of an inquirer. If the child seems to be of a good constitution 
he may receive the title of Stone, or Solid. Should he be 
plump, he is likely to be styled Little Fat One ; if dark coloured. 
Little Black One. Bad Temper, and Little Idiot are common, 
and if all the previous children have died, the last one may go 
by the name of Great Repairs. 

When the parents are peculiarly fearful lest an only boy 
should be made away with by malicious spirits, they often call 
him by a girl's name in order to deceive the powers of evil, and 
thus beat them at their own game. Another plan with the 
same end in view is a nominal adoption into another family, 
where the children spend at least a portion of their time, the 
spirits being thus hopelessly perplexed as to which family really 
owns the child ! Slave Girl, and Old Woman are names 
sometimes given to boys under these conditions. A man who 
had more girls than he desired, called one of them Enough 
Hawks (Kou Ying), while another little maid was outfitted with 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 239 

the happy title *' Ought-to-have-been-a-Boy " (Kai Tzu). 
Girls are frequently named for birds, fruits, and flowers. 

All the preceding are "milk-names, " or "small names," 
which strangers must be careful even should they know them, 
never to employ. No greater insult can be put upon an adult Chi- 
nese than to revile him in public by his " small name " — a by no 
means infrequent occurrence — which seems to convey the im- 
plication that the reviler knows all about his antecedents and 
holds them in supreme contempt. 

It is a highly convenient arrangement of Chinese family no- 
menclature, that the names of each member of the same gen- 
eration (within certain defined degrees of cousinship) furnish a 
clue to his relationship to the rest. Thus, if a man's surname 
is Wang, his family name (which can be either two charac- 
ters or one) may be compounded with the character denoting 
Spring, in which case one brother might be called Wang 
Spring-Flowers, the next Wang Spring -Fragrance, a third 
Wang Spring-Fields, and so universally for that generation as 
far away among the cousins as the Spring influence penetrates. 
These family names are theoretically recorded in carefully kept 
registers, and must not be repeated in later generations, or only 
after the lapse of a due number of generations. Memorials 
sometimes appear in the Peking Gazette from high officials ask- 
ing permission to have a family name altered, since a repeated 
title has inadvertently been taken. 

This use of the same characters in Chinese family names has 
often been compared to the Anglo-Saxon habit of bestowing upon 
brothers names of which one syllable is constant, as Edward, 
Edwin, Edmund, Edgar, etc. 

Besides the name, there is the "style," often much more in 
use than any other designation, which may be bestowed upon 
the owner by a friend. It is common by a respectful familiarity 
to prefix to the first character of the style, the honourific " Old," 
{Lad) making still another title. Thus supposing Mr. Wang 
Spring-Fragrance has the style of Illustrious Virtue, his com- 



240 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

mon appellation may be Wang Old Illustrious, his other names 
being used as alternatives. The result of all this is that a sin- 
gle Chinese not infrequently appears to be three and sometimes 
four, since students have also their examination names, differ- 
ing, strange to say, from any which they have hitherto borne. 
The confusion attending the addressing of Chinese letters in 
correspondence would be intolerable to an Occidental. 

Aside from the ambiguities already mentioned, it sometimes 
appears to the writer of a letter a happy expedient to employ a 
title on the back of his epistle, known only to himself and to 
the recipient, to the great bewilderment of the persons through 
whose hands the missive may pass. We have seen a Chinese 
teacher invited to inspect the address of a letter of this sort, 
the destination of which neither he nor any one else could de- 
cide. Yet it subsequently turned out that the epistle was meant 
for his own son ! With all this labyrinth of future complexity 
the village boy is very little concerned, often passing through 
life without any name at all to speak of. 

In this connection it is worth noting that the foreigner in 
China suffers from a chronic embarrassment as to how to ad- 
dress a Chinese. There is in the language no term answering 
to our Mister or Master, the nearest equivalent being the words 
Elder-born or Seignor {Hsien-sheng). The expression prop- 
erly connotes a Teacher in reality or by courtesy, and although 
applied indiscriminately to blind men (even if they should be 
beggars) will not serve for general use. Honourific terms abound, 
but in the rural regions these are not in use, and are but dimly 
comprehensible. On the principle that *' Within the four seas 
all are brethren," it is the Chinese habit to assume the existence 
of a relationship, so that the passing stranger may appropri- 
ately call out to one whom he has never seen before : " Great 
elder-brother may I borrow your light and inquire whether 
this is the right road to Peking ? ' ' Should the person ad- 
dressed be an old man, the title would be changed to Uncle or 
Grandfather. The fact that the term for an older uncle differs 



yiLL/tGE BOYS AND MEN 241 

from that for a younger one, embarrasses the, foreigner by forcing 
upon him a decision of the difficult question which one to use, 
for deciding which point he often has absolutely no data. 

A Chinese married woman has literally no name at all, but 
only two surnames, her husband's and her father's, so that 
when these chance to be common ones, it is impossible by this 
means to discriminate one woman from another. If Chinese 
women are to be addressed by strangers at all, there is even 
more embarrassment than in the case of men. In some regions 
the term Elder-sister-in-law {sao-tzu) serves indiscriminately 
for any woman, but in others Aunt {ta-niang) must be used, 
while in yet others nothing is appropriate but Grandmother 
{nai-nai) which elsewhere would be equivalent to Old Granny. 
When there happen to be three generations of women in the 
same family to dub them all '' Grandmother " (especially if one 
of them is a girl in her teens just married) is flagrantly absurd. 
Beggars at the other gates clamour to have their ''Aunts " be- 
stow a little food, and the phrase Old Lady {lao T^ai-Vai) is 
in constant use for any woman past middle life. 

The age at which a boy is too large to be carried is a very 
indefinite one, and it is common to see distracted mothers stag- 
gering with their little goat-feet under the weight of children 
half their own size, lugging their offspring about for the reason 
that *' they would not stand it " to be put down. A prepara- 
tory discipline of this nature is not adapted to teach children 
independence, self-control, or any useful lessons, and the result 
is such as might have been expected. But the Chinese child 
is an eminently practical being, and he finds by experience that, 
when there are half a dozen children smaller than himself, the 
period of his own supreme rule has passed away, and has passed 
away never to return. To this altered condition he soon learns 
to adapt himself. 

Of that sympathy for childhood as such, which is so distin- 
guishing a part of our modem civilization, an average Chinese 
father has no conception whatever. By this is not meant that 



24a VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

he is not fond of his children, for the reverse is most palpably 
true. But he has no capacity for entering into the life of a 
child, and comprehending it. His fondness for his children is 
the result of the paternal instinct, and is not an intelligent and 
sympathetic appreciation of the mind of a child. He not only 
has no conception of such a thing, but he would not be able to 
understand what is meant by it, if the possibility of such sym- 
pathy were pointed out. The invariable reply to all sugges- 
tions, looking toward such sympathy coming from a foreigner, 
seems to be, '' Why, he is only a mere child ! " It is by the 
slow moulding forces of maturing life alone that the boy is ex- 
pected to learn the lessons of life, and these lessons he must 
learn largely — though not altogether — by himself 

To most Chinese children, there is very little that is attract- 
ive in their own homes. The instinct of self-preservation does 
of course lead them to fly thither, as soon as they meet with 
any repulse from without, but this instinct they share with ani- 
mals. 

Chinese courtyards are almost invariably very contracted, 
and allow little scope for enterprising youth to indulge in any 
but the most crude and simple forms of amusement. The Chi- 
nese lad generally has but few toys, and those of the simplest 
and most clumsy description. At certain festivals, especially 
in the cities, one sees the children loaded down with all varie- 
ties of playthings often of a flimsy and highly inexpensive 
character. In the country the same phenomenon is observed 
wherever there has been a large fair, at which the provision for 
the children is always on a scale commensurate with their 
known wants. But of these articles made of earth, paper, bits 
of cloth, clay, reeds, sugar, and other perishable substances, 
nothing will be left when the next moon shall have completed 
its orbit. In regions where bamboo is to be had, there are a 
few more serviceable and less fragile articles constructed ex- 
pressly for the children, and such articles doubtless have a 
longer lease of life. 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 143 

That Chinese parents should take occasion to have a romp 
with their children, or even to engage with them in any game 
whatever, is, so far as we have observed, a thing wholly outside 
of the range of their wildest imagination. Children have very 
few games which can be played in the house, and the time 
which is to our little ones the cream of the whole day, that 
namely in which they can gather " around the evening lamp," 
is to the Chinese a period of dismal obscurity. By the dim 
light of a small and ill-trimmed wick, dipped into a few spoon- 
fuls of crude vegetable oil, the evening's occupations are car- 
ried on as best they may be j but to a foreigner a Chinese home 
is at such times most ideally comfortless, especially if the sea- 
son be winter. No wonder that those members of the family 
who can do so, are glad to crawl upon the more or less per- 
fectly warmed k^angy and wrap themselves in their wadded 
bedclothes. During the portion of his existence in which the 
father and the mother of the Chinese child most gladly forsake 
him, kind Morpheus takes him up, and claims him for his own. 

The outdoor games of Chinese children are mostly of a 
tame and uninteresting type. Tossing bits of earth at a mark, 
playing shuttlecock with his toes and heels, striking a small 
stick sharpened at the ends so as to make it jump into a 
"city," a species of "fox and geese," a kind of "cat's-cra- 
dle," a variety of "jack-stones," — these are among the most 
popular juvenile amusements in the rural regions with which 
we happen to be acquainted. Chinese cities have allurements 
of their own, some of which do not differ essentially from those 
found in other parts of the world than China. But even in the 
country, where restrictions are at a minimum, Chinese lads do 
not appear to take kindly to anything which involves much ex- 
ercise. One does not ordinarily see them running races, as 
foreign boys of the same age cannot fail to do, and their jump- 
ing and climbing are of the most elementary sort. We have 
never heard of a crow which was so injudicious as to build its 
nest in a spot where it would be visible to the eye of an Anglo- 



244 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Saxon boy, unless the owner of the eye had previously made a 
long journey with it to a distance from all human habitations. 
But Chinese crows build their huge nests in all sorts of trees, 
in and about every Chinese village. It is not uncommon to 
see an old poplar with ten or twelve of these huge mats of 
sticks, which are undisturbed from year to year and from gen- 
eration to generation. 

The writer once counted twenty-four such nests in a single 
moderate sized elm, and this in the suburbs of a Chinese city. 
Buddhist teachings in regard to the sacredness of animal life 
do not suffice to account for the singular inviolability which 
crows* -nests enjoy in China. In the spring they are sometimes 
defended with the query : <' How would you like to ha-ye your 
house pulled down?" But in a region where every stick of 
fuel is precious, what sacredness can attach to a bushel or two 
of large twigs, when the crows have visibly done using them ? 
Neither does superstition in regard to ill-luck arising from dem- 
olition of the nests of crows explain their security, although at 
first sight this may seem to be the case. Extensive inquiries 
have satisfied us that the true explanation is simply the natural 
one, that the Chinese boy is afraid \.o climb so high as a crow's- 
nest. "What if he should fall?" says every one when ap- 
plied to for information on the point, and it is this unanswered 
and unanswerable question which seems to protect young Chi- 
nese crows from age to age. 

The Chinese boy can seldom get access to running water ; 
that is to say, the proportion of Chinese who can do so is infin- 
itesimal. Most of them have no lakes, rivers, or ponds in 
which they can plunge and learn to swim, or in which they can 
fish. The village mud-hole is the nearest approach to the joys 
of a "watering-place" to which Chinese children can ordi- 
narily aspire. These excavations are the hole whence the ma- 
terial for the village houses was originally dug. During the 
summer time these pits, many of them as large as a dry-dock, 
are filled to the brim with dirty water, and at such times they 




Chinese Punch and Judy. 




The Village Story-Teller. 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 245 

are sure to be surrounded by groups of children clad in the 
costume of the garden of Eden, enjoying one of the few luxur- 
ies of their mundane existence. When the boys are too large 
to indulge in this amusement, there is much reason to fear that 
most of them have taken their last bath, no matter to what age 
their lives may be prolonged ! 

If he cannot fish, neither can the Chinese boy go a-hunting, 
for in the most populous parts of the plains, of which so large 
a portion of the empire is composed, there is nothing to hunt. 
A few small birds, and the common hare, seem to constitute 
the objects most frequently shot, but except in the case of the 
limited number of those who make a business of securing such 
game to sell as a means of support, there are very few persons 
who devote their energies to any form of hunting. Indeed, the 
instinct which is said to lead the average Englishman to remark 
"It is a fine day, let us go and kill something," is totally lack- 
ing in the Chinese. 

In those relatively limited parts of the empire where ice 
forms to a sufficient thickness to bear the weight of human be- 
ings, one does see considerable frolicking upon frozen rivers 
and ponds. But the propulsion of the ice-sleds with passengers 
is a matter of business with those boatmen who during the sea- 
son of navigation have no other means of earning a living. 
Chinese children do not take to them as our boys do to sleds, 
and even if they wish to do so, their parents would never 
dream of furnishing the children with such an ice-sled simply 
for amusement. To earn one, as a boy at home earns a sled or 
a pair of skates, by doing extra work, by picking up old iron, 
and other similar expedients, would be for a Chinese lad an 
impossibility. 

If the amusements of the Chinese lad are relatively scanty 
and uninteresting, there is one feature of his life which is a 
fixed fact, and upon which nothing is allowed to intrude. This 
is his work. The number of Chinese children within any 
given area is literally incalculable, but it may be safely laid 



246 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

down as a. general truth, that by far the larger part of these 
children are for the greater part of their time made to do some 
useful work. There is scarcely any handicraft in which even 
the very smallest children cannot be utilized, and it is for this 
reason in part that hereditary occupations are so commonly the 
rule. The child bred up to one mode of physical activity is 
fitted for that, if he is fitted for nothing else. If he is the son 
of a farmer, there is a very small portion of the year during 
which there is not some definite work for him to do, by way of 
assisting in the cultivation of the land. This is no doubt true 
of farming everywhere, but the unfailing industry of the 
Chinese and the heavy pressure of the common poverty give to 
this fact an emphasis not so strongly felt in other lands. 

But even if the work on the land were all done, which is 
never the case until the winter has actually set in, there are two 
occupations at which the children may be set at any time, and 
at which more myriads of young persons are probably em- 
ployed, than in any other portion of the planet. These two 
employments are gathering fuel and collecting manure. In a 
land where the expense of transportation forbids the use of coal 
in places distant even a few miles from the mouth of the pit, it 
is necessary to depend upon what comes from the soil in any 
particular place, for fuel to cook the food and furnish such 
warmth as can be got. Not a stalk, not a twig, not a leaf is 
wasted. Even at the best, the products of a field ill suffice in 
the item of fuel for the wants of those who own it. The 
Chinese habit of constantly drinking hot water, which must be 
furnished afresh as often as it cools and for each chance comer, 
consumes a vast amount of fuel over and above what would be 
strictly required for the preparation of food. The collection 
and storage of the fuel supply is an affair second in importance 
only to the gathering of the crops. But in every village, a 
considerable although varying proportion of the population is 
to be found who own no land. These people pick up a pre- 
carious living as they can, by working for others who have 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 247 

land, but their remuneration is slight, and often wholly insuffi- 
cient for the food supply of the many mouths clamouring to be 
filled. 

Farm labourers can be hired by the year in Shan-tung, for a 
sum equal to not more than five dollars in gold, with food but 
no perquisites. If the year has an intercalary month the 
labourer sometimes gets less than two cents a day. When 
refugees from regions flooded by the Yellow River abound, 
workmen can be obtained at merely nominal wages. 

The writer has known an able-bodied boy engaged for a year 
for a sum equal to about a dollar and a half (gold). In an- 
other case a lad was offered about a dollar for a year's toil, and 
was required to find some one as security that he would not 
abscond ! 

For the fuel wherewith to cook the exiguous supplies of this 
uncertain food, the family is wholly dependent upon what the 
children can scratch together. Any intermission of this labour 
is scarcely less a check upon the means of existence, than the 
interruption of the work of the bread-winner himself. In this 
dismal struggle for a basket full of leaves and weeds, the chil- 
dren of China expend annually incomputable millenniums of 
work. 

In the midst of such a barren wilderness as constitutes the 
life of most Chinese children, anything which breaks the dull 
monotony is welcomed with keen joy. The feast-days, the 
annual or semiannual fairs held at some neighbouring town, an 
occasional theatrical exhibition, the humbler Punch and Judy 
performance, the peripatetic story-teller, the unfailing succession 
of weddings and funerals, and most of all the half-month holi- 
day at New Year all serve as happy reliefs to the unceasing 
grind of daily toil. 

There is one incident in the life of the Chinese lad, which 
assumes in his eyes some degree of importance, to which most 
Occidental boys are strangers. This is the ceremony of don- 
ning the cap, in other words of becoming a man and his mar- 



248 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

riage. The age at which this takes place is far from being a 
fixed one, but is often in the vicinity of sixteen. The customs 
observed vary widely, in some rural districts they frequently 
consist in nothing more exciting than the playing by a band of 
music in the evening before his marriage, and a visit on the part 
of the young man to each house in the village where he makes 
his prostration, much as at New Year, and is henceforth to be 
considered a full-grown man, and is protected to some extent 
from snubs because he is " only a child." 

The more conspicuous part of the affair, however, is the 
wedding. This proceeding is based upon principles so radi- 
cally different from those to which we are accustomed, that it 
is generally hard for a Westerner to become reconciled either 
to the Chinese theory or to the practice. To us, marriage 
seems suitable for persons who have attained, not merely years 
of puberty, but a certain maturity of development compatible 
with the new relations which they now assume. We regard 
the man and wife as the basis and centre of a new family, and 
there is ancient and adequate authority for the doctrine that 
they should leave father and mother. In China it is altogether 
otherwise. The boy and girl who are married are not a new 
family, but the latest branch in a tall family tree, independent 
of which they have no corporate existence. 

It is by no means uncommon for boys to be married at the 
age of ten, although this is regarded as a trifle premature. The 
physical, intellectual, or moral development of the parties con- 
cerned has nothing whatever to do with the matter of their 
marriage, which is an affair controlled by wholly different con- 
siderations. Sometimes it is hastened because an old grand- 
mother is in feeble health and insists upon seeing the main 
business of life done up before she is called away. Sometimes 
the motive is to settle the division of a piece of property so that 
it shall be impossible for the elder heirs to retreat from the 
settlement. Quite as often the real motive for hastening the 
wedding is the felt need in the boy's family of an additional 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 249 

servant, which need will be supplied by the introduction of a 
new bride. It is for this reason that so many Chinese women 
are older than their husbands. When they are betrothed, the 
bigger they are the better, because they can do all the more 
work. 

To a Chinese, there is no more sense of incongruity in mar- 
rying a little slip of a boy, simply because he is young, and 
perhaps not more than half the size of his bride, than there 
would be in playing checkers with buttons, and then crowning 
the first button that happened to get to the king-row. What 
signified whether the button is a small one or a large one, since 
it has reached the last row, and has now a set of moves of its 
own, a fact which must be recognized by doubling itself. It is 
not otherwise with the Chinese boy. He is a double button, it 
is true, but he is nothing but a button still, and a small one, 
and is only an insignificant part of a wide and complicated 
game. 

During the celebration of a Chinese wedding it does not 
strike the spectator that the bridegroom is the centre of interest, 
and the bride is so only for the time being, and in consequence 
of the curiosity which is felt to see what sort of a bargain the 
family has made in getting her. The young man is ordered 
out of the apartment where he has been kept in ambush — ac- 
cording to the custom in some regions — like an ox for the sacri- 
fice. He is to fall upon his knees at a word of command, and 
kotow with intermittent sequence to a great variety of persons, 
until his knees are stiff and his legs lame. His eyes are fixed 
upon the ground, as if in deepest humility, and the most awk- 
ward Chinese youth will perform the details of this trying 
ordeal with a natural grace, with which the most well-bred 
Occidental youth could scarcely hope to vie, and which he 
assuredly could not hope to surpass. 

When the complicated protracted ceremonies are all over, 
our young lad is, it is true, a married man, but he is not the 
** head " of any family, not even of his own. He is still under 



2SO VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the same control of his father as before, his bride is under the 
control of the mother-in-law, to a degree which it is difficult 
for us to comprehend. If the youthful husband is trying to 
learn to compose essays, his marriage does not at all interrupt 
his educational enterprise and as soon as the ceremonies are 
over he goes on just as before. If he is dull, and cannot make 
the *' seven empty particles " — the terror of the inexpert Chinese 
essayist — fit into his laborious sentences to the satisfaction of 
his teacher, he is not unlikely to be beaten over the head for 
his lack of critical acumen, and can then go weeping home to 
have his wife stick a black gummy plaster over the area of his 
chastisement. We have known a Chinese boy who had the 
dropsy in an aggravated form but who could not be persuaded 
to take a single dose of medicine that was at all bitter. If he 
was pressed to do so by his fond mother, he either fell into a 
passion, or cried. If he was not allowed to eat two whole 
watermelons at a time his tactics were the same, a domestic 
scene either of violent temper, or of dismal howling grief. He 
was merely prolonging into youth the plan universally adopted 
in the childhood of Chinese children. Yet this sensitive infant 
of seventeen had been married for several years, and leaves a 
widow to mourn the circumstance that drugs, dropsy, and 
watermelons, have blighted her existence. 

It is far from being an infrequent circumstance for boys who 
have been married early, on occasion of some grievance, to run 
crying to their mothers for comfort as they have been in 
the habit of doing, and to be met with the chilling inquiry : 
"Why do you come to me? If you want anything, go to 

By a strange exception to the otherwise almost uniform 
prudishness of Chinese practice, on the occasion of a wedding 
it is common — although by no means universal — for guests to 
take the liberty of going into the apartment set apart for the 
married pair, inspecting the bride as if she were an animal just 
purchased at a market, openly expressing whatever criticisms 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 251 

may occur. In this as in everything else customs differ greatly, 
but the phrase " playing pranks in the bridal room " (nao tung- 
fang) testifies to the frequency of the occurrence. In the year 
1893, ^ native newspaper of Canton reported a case in which 
the bride was actually killed in this way, by having cold water 
poured on her, the perpetrators being fined ^200 for " consola- 
tion money," and all the costs of remarrying. 

It is a postulate of Chinese ethics that no branch of any 
family should be allowed to be without its living representative, 
in order that the ancestral rites may be duly performed. As it 
constantly happens that there are no sons, it becomes necessary 
to adopt those of other brothers, or failing these the grandson 
of an uncle, or the great-grandson of a granduncle. Sons thus 
adopted are on the same footing as if they were own children, 
and cannot be displaced by such sons bom later. The uni- 
versality of these adoptions often makes it difficult to ascertain 
with precision the real relationship of a man to others of his 
family. Sometimes he continues to call his real father by that 
title, and sometimes he terms the uncle who has adopted 
him his "father" and his own father ** uncle." Again, he 
may be nominally adopted by an uncle, but continue to live 
with his own parents as before. The adoption of relatives is 
expressed by the general term " crossing over," (kuo) and it is 
a sufficiently important feature of Chinese life to serve as the 
subject for a treatise rather than for a paragraph. It enters into 
the warp and woof of all Chinese family life, which cannot be 
comprehended without taking into account the substratum upon 
which the universal practice rests. While it is rooted in ancestral 
worship it is kept alive among even the poorest classes in the social 
scale by their very poverty. If a man has no heir he can be 
compelled to adopt some one of the numerous candidates who 
are thirsting to enter into prospective possession of even a small 
holding. But whoever is thus adopted becomes responsible for 
the funeral expenses of the one who adopts him. Innumerable 
lawsuits arise out of these complex conditions. 



252 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

If there are no suitable persons for adoption among the 
family or clan of the adopter, he is often obliged to content 
himself with the son of his sisters, or even the grandchildren of 
his aunts. To our thought one ''nephew" is as good as an- 
other, but it is otherwise with a Chinese, to whom the children 
of his sister (being of a different surname) are much farther off 
than those of his brothers. Besides this, on occasion of the 
death of the adopter, the position of a sister's son is liable to be 
very insecure. Rather than take such an heir many Chinese 
will pick up a mere stranger, but in this case he can be easily 
got rid of should he turn out unsatisfactory. Outsiders thus 
adopted although they may be as filial and in every way as sat- 
isfactory as an own son, never escape the stigma of being only 
"picked up," and this taint lasts to distant generations. A 
man told the writer that he was wholly without influence in the 
village where he was born, since his grandfather had been 
adopted as a stranger. 

There is still another method of securing a son which is far 
less common than we should expect it to be. This is that of 
finding a suitable husband for a daughter, and then adopting 
him as a son. By this means the parents are enabled to have 
the services of an own daughter all their lives — a rare privilege 
in China, and an adopted heir of this kind is certainly much 
more closely bound to the family than any other of a different 
family would be likely to be. But there are not many clans 
which do not have a number of candidates available for an 
adoptive vacancy. It would be necessary to conciliate whoever 
was entitled to adoption by dividing the property with him, 
which, in the case of those with but small resources, would be 
tantamount to perpetual pauperism. For this reason most cases 
of ''calling a son-in-law " occur in families where there are no 
sons of brothers or cousins available. 

As a rule every Chinese is as wide-awake to opportunities for 
laying claim to the property of some one else, as a cat appar- 
ently asleep is to seize an injudiciously venturesome bird. The 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 253 

writer is acquainted with a man who had adopted a son-in-law 
in legal form, but who at the funeral of his own father was sur- 
prised to see a large band of strangers enter his courtyard clad 
in mourning, and set up a simultaneous wail for their '< Uncle," 
"Grandfather," etc., according to the alleged relationship. 
Upon inquiry he learned that they came from a village at some 
distance, and bearing the same surname as the deceased had 
determined to claim kinship with him in order to fall heirs to 
the property which consisted of but little more than enough to 
support a moderate sized family. The result was a lawsuit in 
which the pretenders being unable to produce any family regis- 
ter to the purpose, were severely beaten by the District Magis- 
trate as a penalty for their presumption. 

One is constantly surprised in China to hear that a Chinese 
whose name he knows perfectly well, has taken an entirely dif- 
ferent surname, so that Mr. Wang Spring-Flowers suddenly ap- 
pears as Mr. Ma Illustrious-Virtue. This is called "reverting 
to the original name," and may be due to any one of a great 
variety of causes. Even while these lines are being committed 
to paper, a friend of the writer has called to mention the ex- 
periences through which he has recently passed, a resume of 
which may throw a little light on the Chinese theory and prac- 
tice of adoption. This man is the second of four brothers, the 
eldest of whom was adopted into a somewhat distant branch of 
the family, and has three sons. Number two has two sons, the 
youngest of whom is adopted by number three, who has none 
of his own. Number four died some time ago without a son. 
The funeral has never been held, and the body has been en- 
coffined awaiting a favourable time, that is to say, a period of 
financial prosperity. Number four owed to a grain-shop in 
which numbers two and three are interested, several hundred 
strings of cash. To pay up this debt and to have a proper fu- 
neral, would require the sale of all the forty acres of land, so 
that the right of adoption has not seemed worth contesting. 
But of late a son of number one has set up a claim to this in- 



254 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

heritance, and it is this which has been in active dispute for a 
period of twelve days. To adjust the matter, " peace-talkers " 
have been summoned to the number of thirty-eighty many of 
them literary graduates. There have been angry disputes be- 
tween them and some of the members of the family, and an 
actual fight. The *' peace-talkers " were reviled, and took re- 
venge by beating the son of number one who was in fault. 
This involved fresh complications, which had just been settled 
by a final feast. 

During the course of the intricate controversies the eight and 
thirty men had by no means omitted to eat and drink (one of 
the leading functions of '^ peace-talkers " and for the sake of 
which many quarrels are purposely stirred up, and many more 
kept unsettled for long periods). They consumed in all seventy 
catties of wine, and a hundred more of bread-cakes, and the 
total cost to number two is about two hundred and thirty 
strings of cash, one hundred of which are paid by number two 
to number one's family as ''consolation money." Yet in this 
whole matter the financial interest of number two is absolutely 
nil! 

Another of the many devices which the Chinese have chosen 
for perpetuating a branch of the family which might otherwise 
become extinct, is to have a single individual represent two 
branches. Thus suppose there are two brothers only one of 
whom has a son, he may be married to two wives, one for each 
branch. The establishment must be a double one, and he will 
probably be obliged to divide his time equally between his 
partners, even having to change all his clothing in going from 
one house to the other. It is needless to remark that the jeal- 
ousies thus provoked are such as would destroy any home. 

If there is very little sentiment connected with the introduc- 
tion of a daughter-in-law into a family, on the part of the hus- 
band's family at least, there is often not much more on the oc- 
casion of her death. But this is generally regretted, if for no 
other reason, on account of the trouble and expense involved. 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 255 

Perhaps there is no single particular in which the Orient and 
the Occident differ more widely than in the utter disregard of 
Orientals for what we understand by privacy and for quiet. 
The lack of the latter is indeed often vaguely felt, but as it is a 
blessing known only by the imaginative faculty and never from 
experience, its absence has none of the intolerable features 
which we should associate with it. The moment that any 
Chinese is ill, the first step is to send in every direction to 
notify all sorts and grades of relatives, many of whom will feel 
it their stern duty to drop whatever they are doing, no matter 
what its importance, to go, and *' take a look." This inspec- 
tion not infrequently extends for days and sometimes for weeks, 
when the presence of the relative has not the smallest relation 
to the care of the sick person, except as a hinderance by adding 
to the throng that hover over the patient, each with his endless 
questions as to how he feels now^ and each with fertile sugges- 
tions as to articles of food vying with one another in preposter- 
ousness. Few of us would not welcome death as a relief from 
the experiences incident to serious illness under Chinese condi- 
tions, but undfer these conditions all Chinese are born, live, 
and die. 

If a sick person is considered to be beyond the possibility of 
recovery, the next step is to *< put on the clothes," that is, those 
in which he is to be buried, a process which involves pulling 
him about to an extent which it is distressing to contemplate. 
In the case of old men there are sometimes angry disputes about 
the property in the immediate presence of death, and in that of 
wives — especially younger ones — if there is any considerable 
property, it will not be strange if the house is visited by relays 
of go-betweens intent upon proposing an eligible successor to 
the one about to depart, so as to be certain to forestall other 
offers. These negotiations may take place in the immediate 
presence of the dying woman, perhaps two or more strangers 
striving at the same time to get a hearing with their rival pro- 
posals ! 



256 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

The writer is acquainted with a family in which this took 
place, and one of the offers was accepted, but the sick woman 
contrived not to die after all ! The agreement, however, was 
valid, and the prospectively stricken husband thus found him- 
self provided with /wo lawful wives j each of whom subse- 
quently bore him sons. Strange to say the family life is in this 
instance a comparatively peaceful one. Should a wife die, it 
is often a short time before the marriage of the next one takes 
place, an interval regulated not by sentiment, but by the diffi- 
culty of raising funds. Soon after the wedding may come the 
funeral of the predecessor. 

In theory a Chinese lad becomes of age at sixteen, but as a 
practical thing he is not his own master while any of the gen- 
eration above him within the five degrees of relationship re- 
main on the mundane stage. To what extent these relatives 
will carry their interference with his affairs, will depend to a 
large extent upon their disposition, and to some extent upon 
his own. In some households there is a great amount of free- 
dom, while in others life is a weariness and an incessant vexa- 
tion because Chinese social arrangements effectually thwart Na- 
ture's design in giving each human being a separate personality, 
which in China is too often simply merged in the common 
stock, leaving a man a free agent only in name. 

Taking it in an all around survey there is very little in the 
life of the village boy to excite one's envy. As we have al- 
ready seen, he generally learns well two valuable lessons, and 
the thoroughness with which they are mastered does much to 
atone for the great defects of his training in other regards. 
He learns obedience and respect for authority, and he learns to 
be industrious. In most cases, the latter quality is the condi- 
tion of his continued existence and those who refuse to submit 
to the inexorable law, are disposed of by that law, to the great 
advantage of the survivors. But of intellectual independence, 
he has not the faintest conception or even a capacity of com- 
prehension. He does as others do, and neither knows nor can 



VILLAGE BOYS AND MEN 257 

imagine any other way. If he is educated, his mind is like a 
subsoil pipe, filled with all the drainage which has ever run 
through the ground. A part of this drainage originally came, 
it is true, from the skies, but it has been considerably altered 
in its constituents since that time ; and a much larger part is a 
wholly human secretion, painfully lacking in chemical purity. 
In any case this is the content of his mind, and it is all of its 
content. 

If, on the other hand, the Chinese youth is uneducated, his 
mind is like an open ditch, partly vacant, and partly full of 
whatever is flowing or blowing over the surface. He is not in- 
deed destitute of humility ] in fact he has a most depressing 
amount of it. He knows that he knows nothing, that he never 
did, never shall, never can know anything, and also that it 
makes very little difference what he knows. He has a blind 
respect for learning, but no idea of gathering any crumbs 
thereof for himself. The long, broad, black and hopeless 
shadow of practical Confucianism is over him. It means a 
high degree of intellectual cultivation for the few, who are nec- 
essarily narrow and often bigoted, and for the many it means a 
lifetime of intellectual stagnation. 



XXIII 

CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND WOMEN 

'TpHE Chinese are as practical a people as ever had a na- 
•*' tional existence, and we know of no reason to suppose 
that the Chinese ever had the least doubt that a substantial 
equality of the sexes in point of numbers is a condition of the 
continued propagation of the race. Certainly no race was 
ever more careful to keep itself propagated, or has ever met 
with greater success in the undertaking. Yet the Chinese are 
almost the only people boasting an ancient and developed civi- 
lization who despise their own daughters who are married into 
the families of others, and are by that process lost to their own 
because according to ancient custom they can offer no sacri- 
fices for their parents when the latter are dead. It is for this 
reason that the popular saying declares that the most ideally 
excellent daughter (literally a daughter with the virtues of the 
eighteen Lo-hans) is not equal to a splay-footed son. This 
sentiment is endorsed by all Chinese consciously and uncon- 
sciously, in a manner to show that it is interwoven with the 
very fibres of their being. Its ultimate root is the same as that 
of so many other human opinions, pure selfishness. 

The Chinese girl when she makes her first appearance in the 
world is very likely to be unwelcome, though this is by no 
means invariably the case. The ratio in which fortune-tellers 
allot happiness is generally about five sons to two daughters. 
** Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." With 
theories like those of the Chinese about the unavailability of 
daughters for the performance of ancestral rites, and with the 
Chinese nature as it is, it is not to be wondered at that the 

258 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND 1VOMEN 259 

great pressure of poverty leads to the crime of infanticide upon 
an enormous scale. For aught that appears, this has always 
been the case. It is not that the Chinese conscience does not 
recognize the murder of girl babies as wrong, but that the 
temptation to such murder, especially the temptation to the 
disappointed and often abused mother, is too strong to be re- 
sisted by any motives which have the opportunity to act upon 
her. 

Much has already been done by those who have had most op- 
portunity to learn the facts, toward exhibiting the real practice 
of the Chinese in the matter of destroying female infants. Yet 
no more can be safely predicated than that this is a crime 
which to some extent everywhere prevails, and in some places 
to such a degree as seriously to affect the proportion of the 
sexes. It seems to be most common in the maritime provinces 
of the southern part of China, in some districts of which it is 
by the Chinese themselves regarded as a terrible and a threaten- 
ing evil. Native tract societies publish books exhorting the 
people against the practice, and magistrates occasionally issue 
proclamations forbidding it, but it is evident that the nature of 
the offence is such that no laws can touch it, and nothing short 
of the elevation of the mothers themselves to a far higher point 
of view than they now occupy, can have any permanent effect 
upon Chinese female infanticide. 

Next to the destruction of the lives of female infants, the 
Chinese practice most revolting to our Western ideas is the sale 
of their daughters, at all periods from infancy up to a marriage- 
able age. The usages of different parts of the empire vary 
widely, but the sale of girls, like infanticide, seems to flourish 
most in the maritime provinces of the south, where it is con- 
ducted as openly as any other traffic. That the parents are 
generally impelled to this extreme step simply by the pressure 
of poverty we are quite ready to believe. Yet the knowledge 
that the girl must be separated from her family at a later period, 
and that this parting is irrevocable, must tend to reconcile 



26o VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

many Chinese parents to an anticipation, by a few years, of the 
inevitable. Of the miseries which girls who have been thus 
sold are likely to endure, it is unnecessary to speak in detail, 
but enough is known on the subject to lead us to regard the 
practice with horror. If the parents do not feel able to keep 
their daughter until she is old enough to be married, and yet 
do not wish to sell her, Chinese custom has invented another 
expedient, which is a compromise between the two. This is 
the well-known *'rearing-marriage," by which the girl is made 
over to the family into which she is to be married, and is by 
that family brought up, and married whenever their conven- 
ience dictates. There are manifest and grave objections to 
this practice, but there can be no doubt that it is far better 
than the custom of child marriages, which lead to so much 
wretchedness in India. In some instances the relations with 
the family of the girl are wholly broken off, when she is taken 
for a "rearing-marriage," and in all cases it is regarded as a 
confession of poverty and weakness, which places the girl's 
family at much more than their usual disadvantage, at best 
sufficiently great. When a girl is brought up in the family the 
son of which is to become her future husband, it is of course 
wholly out of the question that the parties should not have the 
fullest opportunities to become acquainted with each other's 
disposition, however they may be forbidden by usage to speak 
to one another. There is and can be very little sentiment 
about Chinese matches, but anything which tends to make the 
parties to one of these matches better able to adapt themselves 
to the inevitable friction of after life, cannot fail to have its ad- 
vantages. Whether the parties to a " rearing-marriage " are 
or are not on the whole happier than those married in the ordi- 
nary way, is a question which no Chinese would be likely to 
ask, for the reason that he has no associations connecting mar- 
riage with happiness, but rather the reverse, and if the ques- 
tion is proposed by a foreigner, he is not likely to be made 
much the wiser by the replies which he receives. 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 261 

The practice of binding the feet of Chinese girls is familiar 
to all who have the smallest knowledge of China, and requires 
but the barest mention. It is almost universal throughout 
China, yet with some conspicuous exceptions, as among the 
Hakkas of the south, an exception for which it is not easy to 
account. The custom forcibly illustrates some of the innate 
traits of Chinese character, especially the readiness to endure 
great and prolonged suffering in attaining to a standard, merely 
for the sake of appearances. There is no other non-religious 
custom peculiar to the Chinese which is so utterly opposed to 
the natural instincts of mankind, and yet which is at the same 
time so dear to the Chinese, and which would be given up 
with more reluctance. 

It is well known that the greatest emperor who ever sat upon 
the throne of China dared not risk his authority in an attempt 
to put down this custom, although his father had successfully 
imposed upon the Chinese race the wearing of the queue as a 
badge of subjection. A quarter of a millennium of Tartar rule 
seems to have done absolutely nothing toward modifying the 
practice of foot-binding in favour of the more rational one of 
the governing race, except to a limited extent in the capital it- 
self. But a few it away from Peking, the old habits hold their 
iron sway. The only impulse toward reform of this useless 
and cruel custom originated with foreigners in China, and was 
long in making itself felt, which it is now, especially in the 
central part of the empire, beginning to be. 

The observations which may be made with regard to the in- 
dustry of Chinese boys, are equally applicable — mutatis mu- 
tandis — to Chinese girls. In all lands and in all climes, 
''woman's work is never done," and this is most especially 
true of China, where machinery has not yet expelled the prim- 
itive processes of what is literally manufacture, or work by the 
hand. The care of silk-worms, and the picking, spinning, and 
weaving of cotton, are largely the labour of women, to which 
the girls are introduced at a very early age. The sewing for a 



262 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Chinese family is a serious matter, especially as the number of 
families who can afford to hire help in this line is a very trifling 
proportion. But aside from this employment, in which a Chi- 
nese girl who expects to be acceptable to the family of her 
mother-in-law must be expert, girls can also be made useful in 
almost any line of home work to which the father may be de- 
voted. In the country districts all over the empire, boys and 
girls alike are sent out to scratch together as much fuel as pos- 
sible, for the preparation of the food, and this continues in the 
case of the girls until they are too large to go to any distance 
from home. It is not an unmeaning appellation, which is given 
to girls generally, that of ya-Vou^ or " slave-girl," used just as 
we should say "daughter." To a foreigner, this sounds 
much like the term " nigger " applied to black men, but to the 
Chinese there is a fitness in the designation, which they refuse 
to surrender. 

With the exception of such limited raids as she may have 
been able to make in early childhood, and occasional visits to 
relatives, most Chinese girls never go anywhere to speak of, 
and live what is literally the existence of a frog in a well. * 
Tens of thousands of them have never been two miles away 
from the village in which they happened to be born, with the 
occasional exception of the visit to the mother's family just men- 
tioned, where they are not improbably regarded as terrible be- 
ings who cannot be exterminated, but who are to be as much 
as possible repressed. If the nieces on the mother's side are 
numerous, as is often the case, there is some reason for dread 
of the visits, on the part of the bread-winners, for no Chinese 
mother can be dissociated from her flock of children, whose 
appetites are invariably several horse-power strong, and who, 

1 A Chinese woman for many years employed in the writer's family, re- 
marked that for a long time after she was married she was never allowed 
to leave the narrow courtyard in her hamlet. The wife of a Tao-t'ai told 
a foreign lady that in her next existence she hoped to be born a dog^ that 
she might go where she chose 1 




Women Preparing Food. 




On the Way to the Feast. 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 263 

like their elders, are all excessively fond of enjoying the pleas- 
ure of eating at some one else's expense. 

It is when the married daughters of a large family have all 
returned to their parents to spend a few days or weeks, that the 
most dramatic scenes of childhood occur. Self-control and 
unselfishness have not been a feature in the culture of any one 
of the numerous cousins thus brought together in a cluster 
which frequently resembles those on the inside of a beehive. 
Each of the young generation has the keenest instinct for get- 
ting as much of the best of what is to be had as any one else, 
and if possible more. This leads to occasional " scenes of con- 
fusion, and creature complaints," in which each small partici- 
pant publishes his or her version of the particular squabble in 
piercing tones, which soon summon the whole establishment to 
the scene of action. Judicious parents would punish the chil- 
dren all round for their complicity in such a quarrel, which is 
most often based upon alleged or supposed inequalities in dis- 
tribution of food. But Chinese parents are seldom judicious, 
and the most that can be expected is that the mother will call 
off her child or children, and '' yell " it, or them. " Yelling " 
a person is the act of proclaiming in a loud and piercing voice 
the disapprobation on the part of the *' yeller " of the conduct 
of the "yellee," often accompanied by reviHng language, and 
frequently also with promises to "beat" and "kill " the said 
" yellee " in the event of further provocation. These remarks 
are interpreted by the " yellee " as a hint to stop, a feat which 
is at length accomplished after a period of more or less spas- 
modic and convulsive recrimination. 

But if, as often happens, each of the mothers feels called 
upon from a high sense of duty to take a firm stand for the 
rights of her offspring, the case becomes much more serious. 
Each of the mothers will then scream simultaneously, to the 
accompaniment of the wails, yells, and reviling of the whole 
half-dozen or more of her posterity, while above the general 
clamour may be distinctly caught the shrill shrieks of the grand- 



264 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

mother, whose views, whatever difficulty they may have in get- 
ting themselves heard, must eventually prevail when peace once 
more reigns in the domestic teapot. After one of these family 
cyclones, the atmosphere gradually becomes cleared again, and 
things go on as before ; but we have known a particularly spir- 
ited married daughter, who exhibited her dissatisfaction with 
the terms of settlement of a dispute of this sort by refusing to 
speak to her sisters for some days together. 

With the humdrum routine of her life at home, the occa- 
sional visits to relatives, and now and then a large fair or a 
theatrical exhibition, the Chinese girl grows to be what we 
should call a "young schoolgirl," by which time all her 
friends begin to be very uneasy about her. This uneasiness, 
we need scarcely remark, has not the smallest connection with 
her intellectual nature, which, so far as any culture which it 
receives is concerned, might as well be non-existent. Unless 
her father happens to be a schoolmaster, and at home v/ith 
nothing to do, he never thinks of teaching his daughter to read. 
Even in the case of boys, this would be exceptional and irreg- 
ular, but in the case of girls it is felt to be preposterous. And 
why? asks the incredulous foreigner. It will take the average 
Chinese a long time to explain the nature of his objection, and 
when he does so he will not have stated the whole of the case, 
nor have gone to the root of the matter. The real difficulty is 
that to educate a girl is like weeding the field of some other 
man. It is like putting a gold chain around the neck of some 
one else's puppy, which may at any moment be whistled off, 
and then what will have become of the chain ? It is a prover- 
bially mean man in China, who, when marrying his daughter, 
wants to be paid for the food he has wasted upon her up to the 
date of marriage. But the expression illustrates clearly one of 
the underlying assumptions of Chinese society, that it is the 
body of the girl for which the parents are responsible, and not 
the mind. To almost any Chinese it would probably appear a 
self-evident proposition that to spend time, strength, and much 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 265 

more money in educating the daughter-in-law of some one else 
is a sheer waste. But, you say to him, she is your daughter. 
** Not after she is married," he replies ; " she is theirs, let them 
educate her themselves if they want her educated." "Why 
should I teach her how to read, write and reckon, when it will 
never do me any good ? ' ' With which ultilitarian inquiry, the 
education of most Chinese girls has been banished from human 
thought for the space of some millenniums. 

The anxiety which all her friends begin to feel about a 
Chinese girl, as soon as she attains any considerable size, is ex- 
hibited in the inquiries which are made about her whenever 
she happens to be spoken of. These inquiries do not concern 
her character or her domestic accomplishments, much less her 
intellectual capacity — of which she has, theoretically, none to 
speak of — but they may all be summed up in the single phrase, 
"Is she said?" meaning by the term "said" "betrothed." 
If the reply should be in the negative, the intelligence is re- 
ceived in much the same way as we should receive the infor- 
mation that a foreign child had been allowed to grow to the age 
of sixteen without having been taught anything whatever out 
of books. "Why?" we should say, "what is the explana- 
tion age of this strange neglect? " The instinctive feeling of 
a Chinese in regard to a girl is that she should be betrothed 
as soon as possible. This is one of the many points in regard 
to which it is almost impossible for the Chinese and the 
Anglo-Saxon to come to terms. To the latter the betrothal 
of a mere child, scarcely in her teens, is a piece of absolute 
barbarity. 

As soon as a Chinese girl is once betrothed, she is placed in 
different relations to the universe generally. She is no longer 
allowed such freedom as hitherto, although that may have been 
little enough. She cannot go anywhere, because it would be 
"inconvenient." She might be seen by some member of the 
family into which she is to marry, than which it is hardly pos- 
sible to think of anything more horrible. "Why?" the irre- 



266 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

pressible Occidental inquires ; and is quenched by the infor- 
mation that *'it would not be proper." 

The imminent risk that the girl might in some unguarded 
moment be actually seen by the family of the future mother-in- 
law is a reason why so few engagements for girls are made in 
the town in which the girl lives, an arrangement which would 
seem to be for the convenience of all parties in a great variety 
of ways. It would put a stop to the constant deceptions prac- 
ticed by the middle-women, or professional match-makers, 
whose only object is to carry through whatever match has 
been proposed, in order to reap the percentage which will 
accrue to the agent. It would do away with the waste of time 
and money involved in transporting brides from one of their 
homes to the other, often at great inconvenience and loss. It 
would make the interchange of little courtesies between the 
families easy and frequent. But for all these advantages the 
Chinese do not seem to care, and the most frequent explana- 
tion of the neglect of them is that there would be the risk al- 
ready mentioned. When these two families are such as would 
in the ordinary course of events be likely to meet, nothing is 
more amusing to a foreigner than to watch the struggles which 
are made to avert such a catastrophe. One is reminded of 
some of our childhood's games, in which one party is *' poison '' 
and the other party is liable to be ** poisoned " and must at ah 
hazards keep out of the way. The only difference between the 
cases is that in the Chinese game, each party is afraid of being 
"poisoned," and will struggle to prevent it. There is one set 
of circumstances, however, in which, despite their utm.ost 
efforts, Fate is too much both for the poisoners and the poi- 
soned. If during the betrothal a death of an older person takes 
place in the family of the mother-in-law, it is generally thought 
necessary that the girl (who is considered as already "belong- 
ing" to that family) should be present and should perform the 
same reverence to the coffin of the deceased as if she had been 
already married. She is (theoretically) their daughter; why 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 267 

should she not come and lament like the rest ? ^ If it is pos- 
sible to arrange it, however, the marriage will be hastened, in 
the event of a death of a person belonging to an older genera- 
tion, even if a later date had been previously set. 

To a foreigner, the Chinese habit of early engagements ap- 
pears to have no single redeeming feature. It hampers both 
families with no apparent corresponding advantages, if indeed 
there are advantages of any kind. It assumes, what is far from 
certain, and often not at all likely, that the relative position of 
the two families will continue to be the same. This assump- 
tion is contradicted by universal experience. Time and change 
happen to all, and the insecurity of human affairs is nowhere 
more manifest than in the tenure of Chinese property. Fami- 
lies are going up and coming down all the time. It is a well- 
settled principle in China that matches should be between those 
who are in the same general circumstances. Disregard of this 
rule is sure to bring trouble. But if early betrothals are the 
practice, the chances of material alteration in the condition of 
each of the families are greatly increased. When he is en- 
gaged, the character of the boy, upon which so much of a 
bride's happiness is to depend, has not perhaps been formed. 
Even if it has been formed, it is generally next to impossible 
for the girl's family to learn anything authentic as to what the 
character is, though to all appearance it would be so easy for 
them to ascertain by latent methods. But as a rule, it would 
appear that they do not concern themselves much about the 
matter after the engagement is proposed and accepted, and at 
no time do they give it a hundredth part of the investigation 
which it seems to us to warrant. If the boy becomes a gam- 
bler, a profligate, or dissipated in any other way, there is no 

* We have known occasional instances in which a betrothed girl was 
not required to attend the funeral of her future father-in-law or mother-in- 
law, a trying ordeal which she must be glad to escape. Sometimes when 
she does attend, she merely kneels to the coffin, but does not '« lament," 
for usage is in this, as in other particulars, very capricious. 



268 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

retreat for the family of the girl, no matter to what extremities 
they may be driven. Chinese violation of the most ordinary 
rules of prudence and common sense in the matter of the be- 
trothal of their daughters is, to a Westerner, previous to ex- 
perience and observation, almost incredible. 

A Chinese marriage engagement begins when the red cards 
have been interchanged, ratifying the agreement. These are in 
some districts formidable documents, almost as large as a crib- 
blanket, and are very important as evidence in case of future 
trouble. It is very rare to hear of the breaking of a marriage 
engagement in China, though such instances do doubtless oc- 
cur. In a case of this sort the card of the boy's family had 
been delivered to the other family, at which point the transac- 
tion is considered to be definitely closed. But an uncle of the 
betrothed girl, although younger than the father of the girl, 
created a disturbance and refused to allow the engagement to 
stand. This made the matter very serious, but as the younger 
brother was inflexible, there was no help for it but to send the 
red acceptance card back by the middleman who brought it. 
This also was a delicate matter, but a Chinese is seldom at a 
loss for expedients when a disagreeable thing must be done. 
He selected a time when all the male members of the boy's 
family were in the wheatfield, and then threw the card declin- 
ing the match into the yard of the family of the boy, and went 
his way. None of the women of the family could read, and it 
was not until the m.en returned that it was discovered what the 
document was. The result was a lawsuit of portentous pro- 
portions, in which an accusation was brought against both the 
father of the girl and against the middleman. This case was 
finally adjusted by a money payment. 

The delivery of the red cards is, as we have remarked, the 
beginning of the engagement, the culmination being the arrival 
of the bride in her chair at the home of her husband. The 
date of this event is generally dependent upon the pleasure of 
the boy's family. Whatever accessories the wedding may have, 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND WOMEN 269 

the arrival of the bride is the de facto completion of the con- 
tract. This becomes evident in the case of second marriages, 
where there is often, and even proverbially, no ceremony of any 
sort which must be observed. The Chinese imperial calendar 
designates the days which are the most felicitous for weddings, 
and it constantly happens that on these particular days there 
will be what the Chinese term "red festivities " in almost every 
village. This is one of the many instances in which Chinese 
superstitions are financially expensive. On *' lucky days " the 
hire of sedan-chairs rises with the great demand, while those 
who disregard luck are able to get better service at a lower 
price. There is a tradition of a winter in the early part of this 
century when on a "fortunate day" many brides were being 
carried to their new homes during the progress of a tremendous 
snowstorm which blinded the bearers and obliterated the roads. 
Some of the brides were frozen to death, and many were taken 
to the wrong places. On the other hand in a blistering sum- 
mer, cases have been known where the bride was found to be 
dead when the chair was deposited at the husband's home. 
The same bridal sedan-chair may be used many times. In 
regions where it is the custom to have all weddings in the 
forenoon, second marriages are put off until the afternoon, or 
even postponed until the evening, marking their minor impor- 
tance. 

That the only essential feature of a Chinese wedding is the 
delivery of the bride at her husband's home, is strikingly 
shown in those not very uncommon instances in which a 
Chinese is married without himself being present at all. It is 
usually considered a very ill omen to change the date set for a 
wedding, especially to postpone it. Yet it sometimes happens 
that the young man is at a distance from home, and fails to re- 
turn in time. Or the bridegroom may be a scholar, and find 
that the date of an important examination coincides with the 
day set for his wedding. In such a case he will probably 
choose "business before pleasure" and the bride will be 



270 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

'* taken delivery of" by older members of his family, without 
disturbing his own literary ambitions. 

Of the details of Chinese weddings we do not intend to 
speak. There are wide variations of usage in almost all par- 
ticulars, though the general plan is doubtless much the same. 
The variations appertain, not to the ceremonies of the wedding 
alone, but to all the proceedings from beginning to end. It is 
supposed that the explanation of the singular and sometimes 
apparently unaccountable variation in these and other usages, 
found all over China, may be due to the persistent survival of 
customs which have been handed down from the time of the 
Divided Kingdoms. But very considerable differences in usage 
are to be met with in regions not far apart, and which were 
never a part of different kingdoms. The saying runs, '* Cus- 
toms vary every ten //," which seems at times to be a literal 
truth. 

In the south of China, as we have already remarked, the 
transfer of money, at the engagement of a daughter, from the 
parents of the boy to those of the girl, assumes for all practical 
purposes the aspect of a purchase, which, pure and simple, it 
often is. But in other parts of China we never hear of such a 
transaction, but only of a dowry from the bride's family, much 
in the manner of Western lands at times. Vast sums are un- 
doubtedly squandered by the very wealthy Chinese at the wed- 
dings of their daughters, and it is a common adage that to such 
expenditures there is no limit. But in weddings in the ordi- 
nary walks of life, to which all but a small fraction of the peo- 
ple belong, the impression which will be made upon the ob- 
servant foreigner will generally be that there is a great amount 
of shabby gentility, a thin veneer of display beneath which it 
is easy to see the real texture. 

In this as in everything relating to Chinese usages it is im- 
possible to make general statements which shall at the same 
time be accurate. There are regions in northern China where 
the money exacted from the family of the future bridegroom is 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 271 

so considerable, that what remains after the real bridal outfit 
has been purchased is a positive source of profit to the father. 
There are also other districts where local custom requires the 
bridegroom's family to give very little or even nothing at all for 
dowry, but exacts heavily from the bride's family. There must 
be a large supply of clothing, and bedding ; even when at her 
own home the young married woman must sew for her hus- 
band's family, and the one which furnishes the bride is subject 
to a constant series of petty exactions. 

The bridal chair is often itself a fit emblem of a Chinese 
wedding. Looked at from a distance, it appears to be of the 
most gorgeous description, but on a nearer view it is frequently 
perceived to be a most unattractive framework covered with a 
gaudy set of trappings sometimes much worn and evidently the 
worse for wear. In some cases there is a double framework, 
the outer of which can be lifted entirely off, being too clumsy 
to be got into a courtyard. The inner chair can be carried 
through the narrow doors of any Chinese yard, or, if required, 
into the house itself. 

The bride is no sooner out of the chair than the process of 
dismantling the bridal chair begins, in the immediate sight of 
all the guests, and as a matter of course. The Chinese is not 
a victim of sentiment, and he fails to see anything incongruous 
in these proceedings. It not infrequently happens that the 
resplendent garment worn by the bride is hired for the occasion, 
a fact of which the guests present are not likely to be ignorant. 
We once saw a garment of this sort which the bride had just 
taken off, delivered to the headman in charge of the bridal 
chair and of the accompanying paraphernalia. Upon examin- 
ing it to make sure that it was in as good condition as when it 
was hired, this man found, or professed to find, a grease-spot 
upon it, which not only attracted his attention but excited his 
wrath. He began to talk in loud and excited tones, waxing 
more and more furious until the guests were all called away 
from their other occupations to listen to the dispute. Yet the 



272 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

foreign spectator was probably the only person present to whom 
it occurred that this was an untimely and unseemly proceeding, 
out of harmony with the time and the circumstances. 

The arrival of a first baby is, in the life of a Chinese wife, a 
very different event from the like occurrence in the life of a 
wife in Occidental lands. If the child is a boy, the joy of the 
whole household is of course great, but if on the contrary it is 
a girl, the depression of the spirits of the entire establishment 
is equally marked. In such a case, the young wife is often 
treated with coldness, and not infrequently with harshness, even 
if, as sometimes happens, she is not actually beaten for her lack 
of discretion in not producing a son. If she has had several 
daughters in succession, especially if she has borne no son or 
none which has lived, her life cannot be a pleasant one. 

There is a story of a certain noble English lord, who had 
more daughters than any other member of the aristocracy. 
When on the Continent travelling, he walked out one day with 
six of his daughters. Some one who saw him, remarked to a 
companion, *'Poor man." The noble lord overheard the ob- 
servation, and turning to the person who made it, replied, 
♦' Not so ' poor * as you think ; I have six more at home ! " It 
is questionable whether any Chinese could be found who would 
not sympathize with the comment of the bystander, or who 
would agree with the reply of the father. Indeed, we have 
serious doubts whether, among all the innumerable myriads of 
this race, there ever lived a Chinese who had twelve daughters 
living at once. 

It is one of the postulates of Chinese propriety that however 
much a wife may continue to visit at the maternal home, (and 
on this point the usages in some regions are very liberal), her 
children must all be bom at their father's house. This is a 
rule of such unbending rigour that a breach of it is considered 
a deep disgrace, and in the effort to avoid it women will some- 
times submit to extreme inconveniences, and run the most 
serious risks, not infrequently, it is said, meeting in conse- 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND PVOMEN 273 

quence with painful and humiliating accidents. To the Occi- 
dental question as to the reason for this powerful prejudice 
against a confinement at a mother's home, the Chinese are able 
to give no better reply than an affirmation that, if such an 
event should happen, the mother's family may be expected to 
become very poor. This superstition is so strong that in some 
localities, if such an event has happened, it is customary for the 
family of the husband to harness a team to a plough, and, pro- 
ceeding to the home of the girl's parents, plough up their 
courtyard. The son-in-law must also cook a kettle full of 
millet or rice for his mother-in-law, by which means the dire 
extremity of poverty may be avoided. Perhaps, after all, the 
idea at the bottom of these singular performances is merely the 
thoroughly Chinese one that, if a married daughter and her 
children are to come upon her mother's family for their sup- 
port, poverty will be the certain result, a view which has in it 
some reason. 

A description of the ceremonious superstitions common 
among the Chinese on occasion of the birth of a child, 
especially of a son, and most especially of a firstborn son, 
would fill a volume. These are far more rigorously observed 
in the southern part of the empire than at the north, and more 
in cities than in the country village, where many of these cus- 
toms may be wholly unknown. 

There is the highest Chinese classical authority for the propo- 
sition that if a mother is really anxious to do the best that she 
can for her infant, although she may not succeed perfectly, she 
will not come far short of success. There is equally trustworthy 
Occidental medical authority for the statement that, as applied 
to Chinese women, this proposition is a gross error. Undoubt- 
edly superstition directly or indirectly destroys the lives of many 
Chinese children. But this cause, which is complex in its 
operations, is probably much less efficient for evil than the utter 
lack, on the part of the parents, of the instinct of conformity to 
the most obvious of Nature's laws. 



274 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

The newborn infant is laid upon the k'ang where it is some- 
times warmly covered, and sometimes exposed to excessive 
changes of temperature. Many children continue to nurse at 
the breast for a series of years, and whenever they cry this is 
the sole method of effectually quieting them, even though they 
be thus fed an hundred times a day. When the baby is large 
enough to eat miscellaneous food, there is almost no restraint 
either upon the kind or the quantity. He is allowed to swallow 
unripe fruits and melons to almost any extent, and raw sweet- 
potatoes or turnips are gnawed on by very small infants in 
arms. 

When children are able to run about they are likely to be 
constantly nibbling at something, often sucking their father's 
tobacco pipe, sometimes producing serious weakening of the 
system and atrophy. In Shan hsi mere babies learn to smoke 
opium, which thus becomes at once a natural and an invincible 
appetite. 

Taking into account the conditions of their early life, it is by 
no means improbable that more than half the whole number 
of Chinese infants die before they are two years old. This 
result is greatly promoted by many of those superstitions 
which sometimes have more than the force of law. Thus in 
some regions there is an absolute interdict on seeing either 
mother or child until forty days shall have elapsed from its 
birth. During this critical period myriads of young lives dis- 
appear almost without the knowledge of near neighbours. Sim- 
ilar bans are laid upon the period of some of the most common 
and most fatal of infantile diseases, such as measles, diphtheria, 
and smallpox, the mortality frequently attending which is 
enormous. 

Multitudes of Chinese children die in fits, the causes of 
which are sufficiently obvious to foreigners who see the care- 
lessness with which Chinese children are handled. We have 
known a Chinese mother, in a moment of dissatisfaction, to 
throw her young and naked infant out of doors into a snow- 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND WOMEN 275 

bank. Another cut off one of her baby's fingers with a pair 
of dull shears, to save it from fits, and was rewarded by seeing 
it die in convulsions. Such a practice is said to be not un- 
common. '<Who would have supposed that it would have 
done so ? " her mother remarked to a foreigner. But even if 
the young mother were endowed with the best of judgment, it 
would still be impossible for her to secure proper care for her 
children, for the reason that she is herself only a '' child " ^ and 
in her management of her children, as in other affairs, is wholly 
subject to the dictation of her mother-in-law, as well as to the 
caprices of a platoon of aunts, grandmothers, etc., with whom 
nearly all Chinese courtyards swarm. 

The severe labour entailed upon Chinese women in the 
drudgery of caring for large families, assisting in gathering the 
crops, and other outside toils, and the great drafts made upon 
their physical vitality by bearing and nursing so many children, 
amply suffice to account for the nearly universally observed 
fact that these women grow old rapidly. A Chinese bride, 
handsome at the age of eighteen, will be faded at thirty, and 
at fifty wrinkled and ugly. 

It has been already remarked that the life of the Chinese 
village woman is an apt illustration of the inherent impossibility 
that woman's work should ever be done. Before her own 
children have ceased to be a constant care by day and by 
night, grandchildren have not improbably made their appear- 
ance, giving the grandmother little peace or rest. The mere 
preparation of the food for so many in the single kettle which 
must serve for everything, is a heavy task incessantly repeated. 
All articles of apparel, including shoes, are literally manufac- 
tured or done by hand, and so likewise is the supply of bedding 
or wadded quilts which like the wadded garments must be 
ripped open from time to time, cleaned and renewed. 

^ A Chinese woman whose parents are living, is constantly referred to 
not only as a " girl," but as an unmarried girl {ku-niang), although she 
may be herself the mother of half-a-dozen children. 



276 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Women and girls take their share of watching the orchards 
and the melon patches, etc., by day, and sometimes by night 
as well. When the wheat harvest comes on, all the available 
women of the family are helping to gather it, and in the autumn 
harvest likewise every threshing-floor abounds with them, and 
their countless children. In cotton growing districts the women 
and girls are busy a large part of the time in the fields, and 
often earn the only pin-money which they ever see by picking 
cotton for others. 

The preparation of this indispensable staple for use occupies 
the hands of millions of Chinese women, from its collection in 
the field — a most laborious work since the plant grows so low — 
to its appearance as garments, and its final disappearance 
as flat padding to be used in shoe-soles. The ginning, the 
"scutching" or separation of fibres, the spinning, the cording, 
the winding and starching, and especially the weaving are all 
hard and tiresome work, and that too without end in sight 
while life lasts. In some regions every family owns a loom 
(one of the clumsy machines exiled from the West a century 
ago) and it is not uncommon for the members of a family to 
take turns, the husband weaving until midnight, when the wife 
takes up the task till daylight, (often in cellars two-thirds under- 
ground, damp, unventilated, and unwholesome). Even so it is 
frequently difficult to keep the wolf away from the door. 
Within the past few years the competition of machine twisted 
cotton yarns is severely felt in the cotton regions of China, and 
many who just managed to exist in former days are now per- 
petually on the edge of starvation. This is the " seamy side " 
of "progress." 

The fact that Chinese girls are married so young, and that 
they have not been taught those lessons of self-control which 
it is so important for them to learn, suffices to demonstrate the 
absolute necessity for the existence of the Chinese mother-in- 
law as an element in the family. A Chinese married woman 
must address her mother-in-law as " mother," but for precision 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 277 

is allowed to refer to her as *' mother-in-law mother." A 
Chinese woman calling on a foreign lady asked the latter (in 
the presence of her husband) about her family in the home- 
land. The lady mentioned that she had "a mother-in-law," 
upon which the Chinese woman in an awed whisper pointing 
to the foreign gentleman, inquired : " Won't he beat you for 
saying that ? " 

A great deal is heard of the tyranny and cruelty of these 
mothers-in-law, and there is a firm basis of fact for all that is 
so often said upon that point. But it must at the same time be 
borne in mind that without her the Chinese family would go to 
utter ruin. The father-in-law is not only unfitted to take the 
control which belongs to his wife, even were he at home all the 
time which would seldom be the case, but propriety forbids 
him to do any such thing, even were he able. In families 
where a mother-in-law is lacking, there are not unlikely to be 
much greater evils than the worst mother-in-law. Abuse of 
the daughter-in-law is so common a circumstance, that unless 
it be especially flagrant, it attracts very little attention. 

It would be wholly incorrect to represent this as the normal 
or the inevitable condition to which Chinese brides are re- 
duced, but it is not too much to affirm that no bride has any 
adequate security against such abuse. It assumes all varieties 
of forms, from incessant scolding up to the most cruel treat- 
ment. If it is carried to an extreme pitch, the mother's family 
will interfere, not legally, for that they cannot do, but by brute 
force. In a typical case of this sort, where the daughter-in-law 
had been repeatedly and shamefully abused by the family of 
her husband, which had been remonstrated with in vain by the 
family of the girl, the latter family mustered a large force, 
went to the house of the mother-in-law, destroyed the furniture, 
beat the other family severely, and dragged the old mother-in- 
law out into the street, where she was left screaming with what 
strength remained to her, and covered with blood, in which 
condition she was seen by foreigners. These proceedings are 



278 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

designed as a practical protest against tyranny and an intima- 
tion that sauce for a young goose may be in like manner sauce 
for an older one also. One would suppose that the only out- 
come of such a disturbance as this would be a long and bitter 
lawsuit, wasting the property of each of the parties, and per- 
haps reducing them to ruin. But with that eminent practical- 
ity which characterizes the Chinese, the girl was carried off to 
the home of her parents, "peace-talkers" intervened, and the 
girl was returned to her husband's home upon the promise of 
better treatment. This would probably be secured, just in 
proportion to the ability of the girl's family to enforce it. 

In another case reported to the writer, similar in its nature 
to the one just mentioned, the girl was sent to her husband, 
after *' peace-talkers" had adjusted the affair, and was locked 
up by the mother-in-law in a small room with only one meal a 
day. Within a year she had hanged herself. 

It is not the ignorant and the uneducated only who thus take 
the law into their own hands on behalf of injured daughters. 
We have heard of a case in which the father of the girl who 
drowned herself was a literary graduate. He raised a band of 
men, went to the home of his son-in-law, and pulled down the 
gate-house to the premises, and some of the buildings. In the 
resulting lawsuit he was severely reproved by the District 
Magistrate, who told him that he had no right to assume to 
avenge his own wrongs, and that he was only saved from a 
beating in court by his literary degree. 

A still more striking example was oifered by an official of the 
third rank, whose daughter's wrongs moved him to raise an 
armed band and make an attack upon the house of the son-in- 
law. This proved to be strong and not easily taken, upon 
which the angry Tao-t'ai contented himself with reviling the 
whole family at the top of his voice, exactly as a coolie would 
have done. Wrongs which can only be met with such acts as 
this, on the part of those who are are the most conservative 
members of Chinese society, must be very real and very 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 279 

grievous. In the very numerous cases in which a daughter-in- 
law is driven to suicide by the treatment which she receives, 
the subsequent proceedings will depend mainly upon the num- 
ber and standing of her relatives. The first thing is to notify 
the family of the deceased that she has died, for without their 
presence the funeral cannot take place, or if it should take 
place the body would have to be exhumed, to satisfy her friends 
that the death was a natural one, and not due to violence, 
which is always likely to be suspected. A Chinese in the em- 
ploy of the writer, was summoned one day to see his married 
daughter in another village, who was said to be '*not very 
well." When the father arrived, he found her hanging by her 
girdle to a beam ! 

In cases of this sort, a lawsuit is exceptional. There are 
several powerful considerations which act as deterrents from 
such a step as sending in an accusation. It is almost always 
next to impossible to prove the case of the girl's family, for the 
reason that the opposite party can always so represent the mat- 
ter as to throw the blame on the girl. In one such instance, 
the husband brought into court a very small woman's shoe, 
explaining that he had scolded his wife for wearing so small a 
one, which unfitted her for work. He alleged that she then 
reviled him, for which he struck her (of which there were 
marks), whereupon she drowned herself. To a defence hke 
this, it is impossible for the girl's family to make any reply 
whatever. The accusation is not brought against the husband, 
but against the father-in-law, for practically the law does not 
interfere between husband and wife. It is only necessary for 
the husband to admit the fact of having beaten his wife, alleg- 
ing as a reason that she was " unfilial " to his parents, to screen 
himself completely. We have heard of a suit where in reply to 
a claim of this sort, the brother of the girl testified that she had 
been beaten previous to the alleged '' unfilial " conduct. This 
seemed to make the magistrate angry, and he ordered the 
brother to receive several hundred blows for his testimony, and 



28o VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

decided that the husband's family should only be required to 
provide a cheap willow-wood coffin for the deceased. 

Another even more efficient cause deterring from such law- 
suits, is the necessity of holding an inquest over the girl's body. 
This is conducted with the utmost publicity, upon the Oriental 
plan of letting the public see how the matter really stands. A 
threshing floor is turned into an official arena, a set of mat- 
sheds are put up, and the whole village soon swarms with 
yam§n-runners. The corpse of the deceased is laid uncovered 
on a mat exposed to the sight of every one, before and during 
the inquest. In order to avoid the shame of such exposure, 
and the great expense, the most bitter enemies are often willing 
enough to put the matter in the hands of ** peace -talkers." 
These represent the village of each of the principals, and they 
meet to agree upon the terms of settlement. These terms will 
depend altogether upon the wealth or otherwise of the family 
of the mother-in-law. If this family is a rich one, the opposite 
party always insist upon bleeding it to the utmost practicable 
extent. Every detail of the funeral is arranged to be as expen- 
sive to the family as possible. There must be a cypress-wood 
coffin, of a specified size and thickness, a certain variety of fu- 
neral clothes, often far in excess of what the coffin could by any 
possibility contain, and some of them made perhaps of silk or 
satin. A definite amount is required to be spent in hiring 
Buddhist or Taoist priests, or both, to read masses at the fu- 
neral. It is considered disgraceful to compound with the family 
of the mother-in-law, by receiving a money payment, instead 
of exacting all this funeral show, but doubtless such composi- 
tions are sometimes made. As a business arrangement merely, 
it is evidently more to the interest of all parties to pay the girl's 
relatives say two hundred strings of cash, rather than to expend 
a thousand strings on a funeral which can do no one any good. 
But Chinese sensitiveness to public sentiment is so extreme, that 
such settlements for a mere transfer of cash must be compara- 
tively rare. 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 281 

The wedding outfit of a bride is often very extensive, but in 
case of her suicide none of it goes back to her family. We 
have heard from eyewitnesses of many cases in which huge 
piles of clothing which had been required for the funeral of 
such a suicide from the family of the mother-in-law, have been 
burnt in a vast heap at the grave. We know of one instance 
in which all the wedding outfit, which had been a large one, 
wardrobes, tables, mirrors, ornaments, etc., was taken out upon 
the street and destroyed in the presence of the girl's family. 
The motive to this is of course revenge, but the ultimate effect 
of such proceedings is to act as an imperfect check upon the 
behaviour of the mother-in-law and her family toward the 
daughter-in-law, for whom while she lives the laws of the land 
have no protection. 

When the funeral actually takes place, under conditions such 
as we have described, there is great danger that despite the ex- 
ertions of the "peace-talkers" from both sides, the dispute 
may break out anew. At sight of the girl's livid face, the re- 
sult of death by strangulation, it will not be strange if, excited 
by the spectacle, her family cry out " Let her be avenged ! 
Let her be avenged ! " To keep the women of the girl's fam- 
ily quiet at such a time, is beyond the power of any collection 
of '* peace -talkers," however numerous and respectable. If 
the respective parties are restrained from mutual reviling and 
from a fight, the funeral is regarded as a successful one. The 
girl's family complain of everything, the coffin, the clothing, 
the ornaments for the corpse, and all the appointments gener- 
ally. But they are soothed by the comforting reminder that 
the dead are dead, and cannot be brought to life, and also that 
the resources of the family of the mother-in-law have been ut- 
terly exhausted, the last acre of land mortgaged to raise money 
for the funeral, and that they are loaded besides with a mill- 
stone of debt. 

It is an ancient observation that one-half the world does not 
know how the other half lives. It is quite possible to dwell 



282 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

among the Chinese for a long time without becoming practically 
acquainted with their modes of settling those difficulties to 
which their form of civilization makes them especially liable. 

The best way to study phenomena of this sort is through 
concrete cases. A single instance, well considered in all its 
bearings, may be a window which will let in more light than a 
volume of abstract statements. Whoever is disposed to enter 
into such studies will find in China the material ready to his 
hand, and it will not be strange if it is forced upon his atten- 
tion whether he desires to contemplate it or not, as happened 
in the following highly illustrative case. Many years ago a 
Chinese teacher in the writer's employ had leave of absence 
for a definite period, but when that period had expired he 
failed to make his appearance. This is so common, or rather 
so almost universal an occurrence in China, that it might have 
passed with only a temporary notice, but for the explanation 
which the teacher afterward gave of his inability to return, an 
explanation which appeared to be so peculiar that he was re- 
quested to reduce it to the form of a written statement, of 
which the following is a synopsis. 

An elder sister of the teacher was married to a very poor 
man in a village called the ** Tower of the Li Family," an in- 
significant hamlet consisting of only four families. In a year 
of great famine (1878), both the sister and her husband died, 
leaving three sons, all married. Of these the second died, and 
his widow remarried. The wife of the elder nephew of the 
teacher also died, and this nephew married for his second wife 
a widow, who had a daughter of her own, twelve years of age. 
This widow enjoyed the not very assuring reputation of having 
beaten her former mother-in-law, and also of having caused 
the death of her first husband. The wife of the third nephew 
was a quarrelsome woman, and the two sisters-in-law were al- 
ways at sword's points, especially as all four of the adults and 
their four children shared the house and land together. 

In the month of August of that year the third nephew started 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 283 

for a distant market, with a boat-load of watermelons. On 
leaving he ordered his wife to fetch his winter garments, which 
she refused to do, upon which they had a fight, and he left. 
The next day was cold and rainy. The elder nephew was sit- 
ting in a neighbour's house, and heard his wife engaged in a 
violent quarrel with her sister-in-law, but he did not even rise 
to look into the merits of the case, and no other neighbour in- 
tervened to exhort to peace. The younger sister-in-law left 
the house in a fury, and from that time she disappeared. 
About noon her continued absence became alarming to the 
elder brother, who searched for her till dark, and then sent 
word to her mother's family at a village called "The Little 
Camp " two H distant. This family, upon hearing of the dis- 
appearance of their daughter, raised a company of ten or a 
dozen persons, went over to the "Tower of the Li Family," 
entered the yard, and smashed all the water -jars and other pot- 
tery-ware which they could. "Peace-talkers" emerged, and 
succeeded in preventing the attacking party from entering the 
house, or the damage would have been still greater. 

After they had gone, the " Lord-of-bitterness " (/. ^., the 
elder brother) begged his friends to interfere and " talk peace," 
for as he was a resident of a small village, he could not for a 
moment stand before the men of "The Little Camp," which 
is a large village. These latter belonged to one of the numer- 
ous small sects which are styled "black-doors," or secret so- 
cieties. In these societies there is often a class of persons 
called "Seers" or "Bright-eyes" (ming-yen)^ who profess to 
be able to tell what progress the pupils have made in their 
learning of the doctrine. Sometimes, as in this instance, they 
also undertake the functions of fortune-tellers. To the Bright- 
eye of their sect, the Little Campers applied for information as 
to what had become of the missing woman. In response they 
learnt that she had been beaten to death and buried in the yard 
of the "Lord-of-bitterness." Upon hearing this, the family of 
the murdered woman went to every door in their village, mak- 



284 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

ing a kotow at each door, a common and significant mode of 
imploring their help. Thus a large force was raised, which 
went to the "Tower of the Li Family," armed with spades to 
dig up the body. Warned of their coming, all the male resi- 
dents of this latter village fled, the family of the " Lord-of-bit- 
terness ' ' taking refuge at the village in the house of the local 
constable who had charge of several villages. The teacher in 
question, being a near relative of the "Lord-of-bitterness," 
and a man of intelligence and pleasant manners, was asked to 
look after the house of his nephew, which he did. Owing to 
his presence and his politeness, no further damage was then 
done to the property, but the whole yard was dug over to find 
the body. On the failure of this quest, the Bright-eye modified 
the former announcement by the revelation that the body was 
outside the yard, du^ not more than thirty paces distant. The 
search was kept up with spades and picks by day and by night 
for a week. After repeated attempts had been made by the 
Lord-of-bitterness to get the matter adjusted, and after the 
other party had refused to listen to any terms, the latter lodged 
an accusation in the District Magistrate's yamSn. The Mag- 
istrate heard the case twice, but each time the family of the 
missing woman behaved in such an unreasonable and violent 
manner that the official dismissed their case, merely ordering 
the local constable to enlist more peace-talkers, and make the 
parties come to some agreement. 

It happened that about that time another case somewhat re- 
sembling this had occurred in that neighbourhood, in which a 
woman was suspected of having drowned herself. On this ac- 
count a sharp watch was kept at the ferry of the District city, 
some miles lower down the river, for any floating body. 

About the time of the Magistrate's decision, a woman's body 
appeared abreast of the ferry and was identified as that of the 
missing woman from the Li Family Tower. The official held 
an inquest, in which all parties made diligent search for wounds, 
but none being found the Magistrate compelled the family of 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 285 

the woman to affix their thumb marks to a paper recognizing 
this fact. He ordered the Lord-of-bitterness to buy a good 
coffin, clothes, and prepare other appointments for a showy 
funeral, including chanting by Buddhist priests, and to have 
the body taken to his house. He also instructed the constable 
once more to secure peace-talkers, to arrange the details and to 
hold the funeral. 

But the Little Campers proved to be the most obstinate of 
mortals, and would not only listen to no reason, but drove the 
peace-talkers from their village with reviling language, never so 
exasperating to a Chinese as when employed against those who 
are sacrificing their interests for those of the public. At this 
juncture the husband of the drowned woman returned from the 
watermelon market, went himself to the home of his late wife, 
and expostulated with her family and also urged peace through 
still other third parties. But the Little Campers insisted upon 
funeral paraphernalia which would have cost 10,000 strings of 
cash. 

One more effort at compromise was made, by the visit of an 
uncle of the teacher who was guarding the house of the Lord- 
of-bitterness, to the Little Campers. The latter now altered 
their demands to a payment of 800 strings of cash, which by 
much chaffering was eventually reduced to 400. The Lord-of- 
bitterness offered 250 strings, but this was rejected with disdain. 

Upon the failure of these numerous negotiations, the local 
constable presented another complaint to the Magistrate, recit- 
ing the facts in the repeated refusal, on the part of the family 
of the woman, to come to any terms. The Magistrate, recog- 
nizing the case as one in which the relatives were resolved to 
make the utmost possible capital out of a dead body, ordered 
eight men from his own yamen to go on that very day and at- 
tend the funeral, in order to insure that there should be no 
breach of peace. These yam§n-runners, after the customary 
Chinese manner, hoped to be bribed to do as they were ordered 
and did not go to the place at all. The Lord-of-bitterness 



a86 TILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

and all his neighbours continued in obscurity, but in the in- 
terval the men from the Little Camp again gathered their hosts, 
and made four more visits to the premises at the Li Family 
Tower, breaking everything which they could lay their hands 
upon. The next day the yamen-runners arrived, and the Lord- 
of-bitterness, now thoroughly exasperated, succeeded in collect- 
ing a force of several hundred men from other villages, intend- 
ing at all hazards to hold the funeral and also to have a general 
fight, if need arose. But the men of the Little Camp failed to 
put in an appearance at this time, and the funeral accordingly 
at last took place. The friends of the woman, however, obsti- 
nately refused to consider the matter as settled, at which point 
the curtain falls, with a plentiful promise of future la,wsuits, 
fights, and ruin. 

The reader who is sufficiently interested in the inner-work- 
ing of the life of the Chinese to follow the tangled thread of a 
tale like this, is rewarded by the perception of several important 
facts. It is an axiom in China that the family of the married 
daughter holds its head down, while the family of the man 
whom she has married holds its head up. But in case of the 
violent death of the married woman all this is reversed, and by 
a natural process of reaction the family of the married woman 
becomes a fierce and formidable antagonist. 

Principles such as these have but to be put in issue between 
two large villages, or families, and we have the well-known 
clan fights of southern China, in all their perennial bitterness 
and intensity. One of the weakest parts of the Chinese social 
fabric is the insecurity of the life and happiness of woman, but 
no structure is stronger than its weakest part, and Chinese 
society is no exception to this law. Every year thousands 
upon thousands of Chinese wives commit suicide, tens of thou- 
sands of other persons are thereby involved in serious trouble, 
hundreds of thousands of yet others are dragged in as co-part- 
ners in the difficulty, and millions of dollars are expended in 
extravagant funerals and ruinous lawsuits. And all this is the 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 287 

outcome of the Confucian theory that a wife has no rights 
which a husband is bound to respect. The law affords her no 
protection while she lives, and such justice as she is able with 
difficulty to exact is strictly dipost mortem concession. 

The reality of the evils of the Chinese system of marriages 
is evidenced by the extreme expedients to which unmarried 
girls sometimes resort, to avoid matrimony. Chinese news- 
papers not infrequently contain references to organized socie- 
ties of young maidens, who solemnly vow never to wed. The 
following paragraphs are translated from a Chinese newspaper 
called the Shih Pao : 



SUICIDE AS A VIRTUE. 

There is a prevailing custom in a district called Shun-tS in 
the Canton province, among female society to form different 
kinds of sisterhoods such as **A11 pure" sisterhoods, "Never- 
to-be-married" sisterhoods, etc. Each sisterhood consists of 
about ten young maidens who swear vows to heaven never to 
get married, as they regard marriages as something horrid, be- 
lieving that their married lives would be miserable and unholy ; 
and their parents fail to prevail upon them to yield. 

A sad case has just happened : a band of young maidens 
ended their existence in this world by drowning themselves in 
the Dragon River because one of them was forced by her par- 
ents to be married. She was engaged in her childhood before 
she joined this sisterhood. When her parents had made all 
the necessary arrangements for her marriage she reported the 
affair to the other members of her sisterhood who at once 
agreed to die for her cause, if she remained constant to her 
sworn vows to be single and virtuous. Should she violate the 
laws of the sisterhood and yield to her parents, her life was to 
be made most unpleasant by the other members and she was to 
be taunted as a worthless being. She consulted with them as 
to the best mode of escaping this marriage, and they all agreed 



288 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

to die with her, if she could plan to run away from her parents 
on the night of the marriage. 

As there were many friends to watch her movements, it was 
almost impossible for her to escape, so she attempted her life 
by swallowing a gold ring, but any serious consequence that 
might have resulted was prevented by the administration of a 
powerful emetic. She was finally taken by force and made 
over to the male side, to her great grief. According to the 
usual custom she was allowed to return to her parents. During 
all this time she was planning a way to escape to her sisters. 
By bribing the female servants she was taken one night to her 
sisters under the cover of darkness. The sisters at once joined 
with her in terminating their lives by jumping into the Dragon 
River with its swift currents, which rapidly carried them off. 

This kind of tragedy is not uncommon in this part of the 
land. The officials have from time to time tried to check the 
formation of such sisterhoods, but all their efforts were in vain. 
Girls must have reasons of their own for establishing such 
societies. Married life must have been proved by many in 
that region to have been not altogether too sweet. However, 
such wholesale suicide must be prevented by law if the parents 
have no control over their daughters. 

It is well known that Chinese law recognizes seven grounds 
for the divorce of a wife, as follows : childlessness, wanton con- 
duct, neglect of husband's parents, loquacity {to yen), thievish- 
ness, jealousy, malignant disease. The requisites for a Chinese 
wife are by no means sure to be exacting. A man in the 
writer's employ, who was thinking of giving up his single life, 
on being questioned as to what sort of a wife he preferred, 
compendiously replied, "It is enough if she is neither bald 
nor idiotic." In a country where the avowed end of marriage 
is to raise up a posterity to burn incense at the ancestral graves, 
it is not strange that "childlessness" should rank first among 
the grounds for divorce. It would be an error, however, to 
infer that simply because they are designated in the Imperial 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 289 

code of laws, either this or any other of the above mentioned, 
are the ordinary occasions of divorce. 

It is always difficult to arrive at just conclusions in regard to 
facts of a high degree of complexity, especially in regard to 
the Chinese. But so far as we can perceive, the truth appears 
to be that divorce in China is by no means so common as 
might be expected by reasoning from the law just quoted. 
Probably the most common cause is adultery, for the reason 
that this is the crime most fatal to the existence of the family. 

But it must be distinctly understood that in every case of 
divorce, there is a factor to be taken into account which the 
law does not even consider. This is the family of the woman, 
and, as we have seen, it is a factor of great importance, and 
by no means to be disregarded. It is very certain that the 
family of the woman will resist any divorce which they con- 
sider to be unjust or disgraceful, not merely on account of the 
loss of ** face," but for another reason even more powerful. 

In China a woman cannot return to her parent's home after 
an unhappy marriage, as is often done in Western lands, be- 
cause there is no provision for her support. Enough land is 
set apart for the maintenance of the parents, and after that has 
been provided for, the remainder is divided among the brothers. 
No lot or portion falls to any sister. It is this which makes it 
imperative that every woman should be married, that she may 
have some visible means of support. After her parents are 
dead, her brothers, or more certainly her brothers' wives, would 
drive her from the premises, as an alien who had no business 
to depend upon their family when she <' belongs" to another. 
Under this state of things, it is not very likely that a husband 
would be allowed to divorce his wife except for a valid cause, 
unless there should be some opportunity for her to ''take a 
step," that is, to remarry elsewhere. 

Next to adultery, the most common cause of Chinese divorce 
is thought to be what Western laws euphemistically term in- 
compatibility, by which is meant, in this case, such constant 



290 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

domestic brawls as to make life, even to a Chinese, not worth 
living. It is needless to remark that when things have reached 
this pitch, they must be very bad indeed. Every one of the 
above cited causes for divorce evidently affords room for the 
loosest construction of the facts, and if the law were left to its 
own execution, with no restraint from the wife's family, the 
grossest injustice might be constantly committed. As it is, 
whatever settlement is arrived at in any particular case, must 
be the result of a compromise, in which the friends of the 
weaker party take care to see that their rights are considered. 

We have repeatedly referred to the imperative necessity that 
every Chinese youth should be married. To a foreigner there 
is a mixture of the ludicrous and the pathetic in the attitude 
of the average parent, in regard to a marriage of a son who has 
nearly reached the age of twenty and is still single. It is a 
Chinese aphorism of ancient times that when sons and daugh- 
ters are once married, "the great business of life has been 
despatched." Chinese parents look upon the marriage of their 
sons just as Western parents look upon the matter of taking 
young boys out of their early dresses and putting them into 
trousers. The serious part of life cannot be begun until this 
is done, and to delay it is ridiculous and irrational. 

There is a sentiment of false modesty which forbids the per- 
sons most interested in a marriage, even to refer to it. It is 
often impossible for any one but the mother to hint to a girl 
that it is time she were betrothed, an announcement which is 
naturally the frequent occasion for stormy scenes. 

A Chinese teacher well known to the writer, having gradu- 
ated from a missionary college at the age of twenty-three, re- 
membered that he was not betrothed. When matters had been 
arranged without his appearing to be aware of the fact (al- 
though he was consulted at each step) it became necessary to 
visit his home to arrange with his parents the time of the mar- 
riage. But the sensitive young man refused to go on this 
errand himself, and posted off a ''yard uncle," urging as a 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 291 

more than sufficient reason : *' How could /speak to my father 
and mother about such a thing as that ? ' ' 

Since this paragraph was written a Chinese friend called on 
the writer with an air of pleased embarrassment about '* a little 
matter" which seemed to interest him. He is more than forty 
years of age, and had never been married. He has two broth- 
ers, all three sharing in common a property amounting to less 
than two English acres. This brother had been at home for 
some months, during which there was no mention of matri- 
mony, nor any thought of it. Having left home for a few 
weeks, before the time was nearly expired the elder brother 
posted off a special messenger to a distance of more than 300 li 
to mention to him the fact that he had suddenly arranged a be- 
trothal for this forty years old bachelor, to a girl of seventeen, 
whose friends were now pressing for an immediate execution of 
the contract. The interview closed with the expression of an 
earnest wish on the part of the Chinese that his foreign friend 
would see his way clear to " a loan " of twenty strings of cash 
for the bride's outfit, the bridegroom having no independent 
property whatever, and no income. The comment of ninety- 
nine out of an hundred Chinese on this match, or on any other 
in similar circumstances would be compendiously condensed in 
the single word ^^hao,'^ meaning when fully explicated, "It is 
well; this is what certainly ought to be done now." Questions 
of expense appear to them as irrelevant as they would to us if 
the matter was the burial of a parent. 

Chinese parents are never willing to run the risk of having 
the marriage of any of their children, especially the sons, post- 
poned until after the death of their parents. They often feel 
uncertain whether the children already married will be willing 
to make the proper provision for the event, or indeed that they 
will let it take place at all. Affairs of this sort involve the 
partition of the land, with a portion to each married son, and 
it is not in human nature to wish to multiply the sharers in a 
property which is too often at the best wholly inadequate. For 



292 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

this cause, every prudent parent wishes to see this ''main busi- 
ness of life," put through while he is able to superintend the 
details. 

The inexorable necessity for the marriage of sons is not sus- 
pended by the fact that the child is wholly unsuited for a real 
marriage, or indeed incapable of it. Cases constantly occur, 
in which a boy who is a hopeless and helpless cripple is mar- 
ried to a girl, whose family only assent to the arrangement, be- 
cause of the advantageous terms which are offered. Children 
who are subject to epileptic or other forms of fits, those who 
are more or less insane, and even those who are wholly idiotic, 
all may have, and do have, wives, provided only that the fam- 
ilies of the boys were in good circumstances. The inevitable 
result of this violation of the laws of nature, is an infinity of 
suffering for the girls whose lives are thus wrecked, and the ev- 
olution of a wealth of scandal. 

There is another feature of Chinese married life, to which 
little attention seems to have been paid by foreigners, but 
which is well worth investigation. It is the kidnapping of le- 
gally married wives. The method by which this may be ac- 
complished, and the difficulty of tracking those who do it, 
may be illustrated by the following case, with the principal 
parties in which, the father and father-in-law of the bride, the 
writer is acquainted, having been present at the wedding in 
December, 1881. 

The bride herself, was, as so often, a mere child. On her 
frequent visits to her native village, which local custom allows, 
the bride did not spend much of her time at her own home, 
where she was probably not made very welcome by her step- 
mother, but went instead to her grandmother's, who was old, 
half blind, and ill supplied with bedding. In a neighbouring 
yard lived a cousin of the girl, who was a "salt inspector," 
that is, one whose duty is to seize dealers in smuggled salt. 
His wife was the daughter of a widow, who was reported to 
be herself a dealer in smuggled salt, of course with the conniv- 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 293 

ance of her son-in-law. This couple were said to have been 
married without the intervention of go-betweens, and hence 
the most flagitious conduct was to be expected from them. 
The girl got into the habit, whenever she visited her village, of 
going to the house of this cousin, and not to that of her father. 
The cousin was absent much of the time, on his business in 
connection with the suppression (or the sale) of smuggled salt. 
Upon one occasion, after a ten days' visit to her native village 
she returned to the home of her husband (also a mere child), 
where she stayed five days, and then went again to her own 
village. A younger sister-in-law, sixteen years of age, went 
with her two-thirds of the way, at which point the bride sent 
her escort back and proceeded alone. Some days after this 
the own sister of the bride met the father-in-law at a fair, and 
inquired why the bride did not return to her own village as 
agreed. Her absence from both homes was thus for the first 
time discovered. The steps taken to follow her are an excel- 
lent illustration of certain phases of Chinese life. It is almost 
impossible in China for any one to do anything so secretly that 
some other persons do not know of it, and in an affair so se- 
rious as the disappearance outright of a young bride, the 
chances of successful concealment would seem to be very 
slight. 

The father-in-law of the girl went to the village where she 
had Uved, and learned that upon the occasion of her home 
visits the child had been allowed to go where she pleased, and 
that once after coming in from her cousin's, she had been 
heard to remark that she herself was worth as much as five 
ounces of silver. It was also reported that the wife of the 
cousin had been observed waiting for the missing girl, on the 
night she was last seen at the time when she dismissed the sis- 
ter-in-law who had accompanied her. This was all the clue 
that could be got. 

The father-in-law now presented a petition to the District 
Magistrate, reciting the facts and accusing the girl's father, and 



294 VILLACE LIFE IN CHINA 

others. This was followed by counter accusations from the 
father, the cousin, and his mother-in-law. The official reply 
to the complaint was an order to the local constable to find the 
girl. The constable was a wholly incompetent person, and 
could not have found her if he had tried. A second petition 
to the Magistrate was followed by the same reply. This signi- 
fied that there was no hope from that official, who took no in- 
terest in the matter. 

After these repeated failures of justice, the poor father-in-law 
resolved to make one more trial, a desperate expedient, but the 
only one which was left. He seized the occasion of the pass- 
ing of the District official through that village, to kneel in front 
of the sedan-chair and proclaim his grievance. The Magis- 
trate merely repeated what had been said in court, that he knew 
nothing about the matter ; that it was not his business to find 
the cattle of those who might lose them, neither was it his 
function to recover daughters-in-law. He also expressed the 
opinion that the father-in-law was lacking in proof of his case, 
and was falsely accusing parties who were innocent, and then 
ordered his chair to proceed. 

The only remaining hope of tracing the missing person was 
to follow up chance clues. In such a case, no one will give any 
information whatever, no matter what he may know, for the 
reason that the possible effect may be to drag him as witness 
into a fearful lawsuit, which is only one step removed from be- 
ing the principal victim oneself. This is so universal a deter- 
rent in a quest of this sort as almost to bar all progress. Those 
who were interested in this particular case were led to recall an- 
other, which occurred many years before in a village immedi- 
ately contiguous, where the wife of a man who was working for 
some one else was taken off (of course with her consent) while 
he was absent. In this instance, although the husband was 
able to ascertain to what village she had been taken, yet as it 
was a large one he could never get any further trace of her, 
and she died there. The writer is personally acquainted with 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 295 

two families in which such occurrences have taken place, and 
with a third, the wife in which, when living with her first hus- 
band who divorced her, was to have been kidnapped, if the 
plan could have been carried out. 

It is of course impossible to form any correct idea as to the 
extent to which the kidnapping of married women is carried in 
China, but there are a few little windows through which glimp- 
ses may be had of regions beyond our ordinary vision. Such 
glimpses may be frequently gained from accounts published in 
Chinese native newspapers, in which such accounts often form 
a staple topic. In the absence of any acquaintance with the 
wider interests of the empire, these piquant personalities seem 
to many Chinese very entertaining, as items of a similar sort 
do to certain readers in Western lands. Such gossip is col- 
lected at the yamgns, where many of the cases reported have 
already reached the stage of a prosecution, and others are quietly 
adjusted by *' peace-talkers." Similar information may also be 
obtained from occasional memorials printed in the Peking Ga- 
zette. It not seldom happens that these kidnapping cases lead 
to murder, and perhaps to wholesale fighting, ending in many 
deaths, which render it necessary for a Governor to report the 
facts and proceedings to Peking. From data of this sort one 
would infer that, as the proverb says, "The crow is everywhere 
equally black." 

We have spoken of the sale of girls by their parents, and 
have now to refer to the more or less common cases of the sale 
of wives by their husbands. This is generally due to the press 
of poverty, and the writer is acquainted with a Chinese who, 
being deeply in debt, was thrown into prison from which he 
found deliverance hopeless. He accordingly sent word to his 
relatives to have his wife sold, which was done, and with the 
proceeds the man was able to buy his escape. The frequency 
of such sales may be said to bear a direct ratio to the price of 
grain. 

There is another method of selling wives, with which the 



296 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Chinese are acquainted, which can be adopted whenever the 
pressure of life at home becomes too hard to be borne. The 
husband and wife then start off on a begging expedition toward 
a region in which the crops have been good. In a bad year, 
there are thousands of such persons roaming about the country, 
picking up a scanty subsistence wherever they can. The man 
who wishes to sell his wife represents her as his sister, and de- 
clares that they are forced by hunger to part company. He 
reluctantly makes up his mind to sell her to some one who is in 
need of a wife, and who can get one more cheaply by this proc- 
ess than by any other. To this arrangement the woman tear- 
fully assents, the money is paid to her ''brother," and he de- 
parts, to be seen no more. After a few days or a few weeks in 
her new home, the newly married "sister" contrives to steal 
out in the evening with all of her own clothes and as many 
more as she can collect, and rejoins her " brother," setting out 
with him for ''fresh woods and pastures new." With that 
keen instinct for analogy which characterizes the Chinese, they 
have invented for this proceeding the name of " falconing with 
a woman," likening it to the sport of a man who places his 
hawk on his wrist, and releases it when he sees game in sight, 
only that the bird may speedily return. It is a popular prov- 
erb, that " playing the falcon with a woman " implies a plot in 
which two persons are concerned. 

An inquirer is told that in some districts this practice of 
" falconing " is exceedingly common, for the supply of gullible 
persons who hope to buy a wife at a cheaper rate than usual 
never fails. 

The Chinese ridicule any one who seems to be infatuated 
with a bargain in which a woman is concerned, but it is not 
improbable that under similar circumstances they themselves 
would do the same. An old fellow living in the same village 
as the writer bought a woman under what he considered excep- 
tionally profitable conditions, and lest she should escape, he 
anchored her in the yard fastened to a peg like a donkey. His 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN ^97 

neighbours laughed at him, and he at them, until the woman 
suddenly disappeared, an event which reduced him to a more 
sober view of the '' five relations." 

Chinese public sentiment is altogether on the right side of 
this question, but Chinese practice is not under the guidance of 
sentiment of any kind. It is proverbial that a judicious man 
will never marry a woman who has a living husband, for the 
sufficient reason that he never can foresee the consequences, 
which are often serious. But the instinct of trying to cheat 
Fate is in all Chinese most vigorous. "Cheaper than an 
animal," was the self-complacent comment of a Chinese friend 
of the writer's in regard to his own second marriage where he 
had paid no money for his wife, but only an allowance for out- 
fit. But when the elder sister-in-law had been heard from, 
this same individual was dissolved in tears for many moons, 
since his future peace seemed to have been wrecked. 

It is a natural sequence to the Chinese doctrine of the neces- 
sity of having male children that, in case this becomes un- 
likely, a secondary wife, or concubine, should be taken, with 
that end in view. As a matter of fact this practice is confined 
to a comparatively small number of families, mainly those in 
fairly good circumstances, for no others could afford the ex- 
pense. The evils of this expedient are well recognized, and it 
is fortunate for Chinese society that resort is not had to it on a 
much greater scale than appears to be the case. The practical 
turn of the Chinese mind has suggested to them a much simpler 
method of arriving at the intended results, by a much less ob- 
jectionable method. This is the well-known adoption of chil- 
dren from collateral branches of the family, already mentioned, 
so as to keep the line of succession intact, and prevent the ex- 
tinction of any particular branch. 

It not infrequently happens that the son in a family dies be- 
fore he is married, and that it is desirable to adopt, not a son, 
but a grandson. There is however, to the Chinese, a kind of 
paradox in adopting a grandson, when the son has not been 



298 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

married. To remedy this defect after the boy had died un- 
married would, to the practical Occidental, appear impossible, 
but it is not so to the sentimental Chinese. To meet this exi- 
gency they have invented the practice of marrying the deady 
which is certainly among the most singular of the many singu- 
lar performances to be met with in China. 

In order to keep the line of succession unbroken, it is thought 
desirable that each generation should have its proper represent- 
atives, whether they really were or were not links in the chain. 
It is only in families where there is some considerable property 
that this question is likely to arise. Where it does arise, and 
where a lad has died for whom it is thought desirable to take a 
post-mortem wife, the family cast about to hear of some young 
girl who has also died recently. A proposition is then made, 
by the usual intermediaries, for the union of these two corpses 
in the bonds of matrimony ! It is probably only poor families 
to which such a proposition in regard to their daughter would 
be made ; to no others would it be any object. If it is ac- 
cepted, there is a combination of a wedding and a funeral, in 
the process of which the deceased "bride " will be taken by a 
large number of bearers to the cemetery of the other family, 
and laid beside her " husband " ! The newly adopted grand- 
son worships the corpse of his " mother," and the other cere- 
monies proceed in the usual way. 

The writer was personally acquainted with a Chinese girl 
who after her death was thus " married " to a dead boy in an- 
other village. Upon "being questioned in regard to the matter, 
her father admitted that it was not an entirely rational proce- 
dure, but remarked that the girl's mother was in favour of ac- 
cepting the offer. The real motive in this case was undoubtedly 
a desire to have a showy funeral at the expense of another family, 
for a child who was totally blind, and whose own parents were 
too poor at her death to do more than wrap her body in a mat. 

The practice of marrying one dead person to another is very 
far from uncommon to China. Its ultimate root is found in the 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 299 

famous dictum of Mencius, that of the three lines of unfilial 
conduct the chief is to leave no posterity. This utterance is 
one upon which the whole domestic life of the Chinese seems 
to have rested for ages. It is for this reason that those Chinese 
who have not yet married are accounted as of no importance. 
When they die, they are, if children, "thrown out" either 
literally or figuratively, and are not allowed a place in the 
family graveyards. These belong exclusively to those who are 
mated, and occasional bachelors must expect no welcome 
there. The same principle seems to be applicable to those 
who have died, and whose wives have remarried. It is for 
such cases that the strange plan of marrying a living woman to 
a dead husband has been invented. The motive on the part 
of the woman could be only that of saving herself from starva- 
tion, a fate which often hangs imminent over poor Chinese 
widows who do not remarry. The motive on the part of the 
family of the deceased husband is to make the ancestral graves 
complete. If the family of the deceased is not moderately well 
off, they would not go to the expense and trouble of bringing 
in a wife for a dead husband. But if she were well off, the 
widow would probably not have remarried. It thus appears 
the marriage of a living woman to a dead man is likely to 
be confined to cases where the family being poor, the widow 
remarried, but where the family circumstances having subse- 
quently materially improved, it became an object to arrange as 
already explained to fill the threatened graveyard gap. 

It is perhaps for this reason that cases of such marriage ap- 
pear to be relatively rare, so rare indeed, that many even intel- 
ligent and educated Chinese have never heard of them at all, 
and perhaps stoutly deny their existence. Sufficient inquiry, 
however, may not improbably develop here and there specific 
cases of conformity to this custom, so repellent to our thought, 
but to the Chinese natural and rational. 

As already mentioned, in cases where it has been decided to 
adopt a son, and where there are no suitable candidates within 



300 TILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

the family circle, a lad may be taken from a different family, 
sometimes related, sometimes connected, sometimes neither re- 
lated nor connected, and sometimes he may even be a total 
stranger merely " picked up." The result of this latter prac- 
tice especially is often very disappointing and painful for the 
couple who have gone to so much trouble to find an heir, and 
who too often discover that they have spent their strength 
in vain, and that filial piety is not a commodity to be had for 
the asking. 

But whatever its attendant evils, which are undoubtedly 
many and great, the Chinese plan of adoption is always in- 
comparably preferable to that of bringing into the yard a 
"little wife." It is by no means singular that the Chinese 
have given to the relations between the real wife and the sup- 
plementary one, the significant name of " sipping vinegar." 

We happen to have been personally acquainted with several 
families in which a concubine had been introduced. In two 
of them, the secondary wives had been bought because they 
were to be had at a cheap rate in a year of famine. One of 
these poor creatures came one day running into the yard of a 
Chinese family with whom the writer was living, screaming and 
dishevelled, as the result of ''vinegar sipping." The man 
who had taken her openly reviled his mother in the most 
shameless way, upon her remonstrance at the act. 

In a second instance, a man past middle-life thought by this 
means to make sure of a son, but was greatly disappointed in 
the result. He was in the habit of inviting elderly Chinese 
women of his acquaintance to go to his house, and "exhort" 
his wives to stop "sipping vinegar," a labour which was at- 
tended with very negative results. When he died, the last 
wife was driven out to return to her relatives, although for a 
country villager her husband was reputed to be a fairly rich 
man. In cases where the concubine has a son, in the event of 
her husband's death, if affairs are properly managed, she has 
a portion of land set apart for her like any other wife. 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND WOMEN 301 

In a third case a neighbour of the writer, a man in middle- 
life, had a wife about forty years of age, two others having 
died, one of them leaving a daughter now twenty years of age. 
The father was absent from home much of the time, engaged 
in business in Peking. With Chinese thus situated, it often 
appears to be a particularly happy solution of a difficulty to 
have two wives, the legal wife at home, and the ''small one " 
at the place where the husband spends most of his time. When 
the man returned to his home, he brought this secondary wife 
with him, an act very well adapted to promote "vinegar sip- 
ping." This additional wife was a mere child much younger 
than the daughter of her husband. 

At the next New Year it was reported that the man would 
not allow his proper wife to go to the ancestral graves, but in- 
sisted upon taking his young concubine to do the sacrificing. 
Other injurious reports, true or false, were circulated in regard 
to his behaviour toward his proper wife, and his intentions in the 
future to abandon or divorce her, and these soon reached the 
village of which she was a native. The result was a deputa- 
tion of a considerable numxber of elderly men from that village 
to the one in which the husband lived. This deputation insti- 
tuted proceedings by summoning the head of the husband's 
clan to meet them. But a large number of young men from 
that same village, having heard of the affair, could not wait 
for the elders to adjust the matter by slow Chinese diplomacy, 
but came in a body to the house of the husband, and without 
any ceremony made an attack upon it, breaking down the 
barred door and throwing themselves with violence upon the 
defenceless husband. 

The attacking party had armed themselves with awis, but 
not, according to their own account, with knives. It was late 
at night when the onslaught was made, and it was impossible 
to distinguish friend from foe. The husband was at once over- 
powered, and was subsequently found to have seventeen awl- 
stabs on his chest, and two savage knife- cuts on his back, pene- 



303 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

trating to the lungs. It was alleged by the attacking party 
that the latter wounds must have been made by some of the 
man's immediate neighbours who were personal enemies, and 
who, hearing the outcry, rushed in only to find that their 
enemy was defenceless and open to their attack (which could 
not be proved against them), a circumstance of which they 
took care to avail themselves. The attacking party having 
thus placed themselves in the wrong, were obliged, upon being 
prosecuted at law, to get an influential company of intermedi- 
aries to help them out of the difficulty. This was at last ac- 
complished according to the usual Chinese method — a great 
deal of head knocking and a great many feasts for the injured 
party. 

Notwithstanding such instructive object-lessons as these, 
with which all parts of China must to a greater or less extent 
abound, many of those who think that they can afford to do so 
continue to repeat the experiment, although the adage says : "If 
your wife is against it, do not take a concubine." If this ad- 
vice were to be adopted, it is not improbable that the practice 
of concubinage in China would become practically extinct. 

A traveller through China often notices in the villages along 
his route that in the early morning most of the men seem to be 
assembled by the roadside, each one squatting in front of his 
own door, all busily engaged in shovelling in their food with 
chopsticks (appropriately called "nimble-sons"), chatting 
meantime during the brief intervals with the neighbour near- 
est. That the entire family should sit down to a table, eating 
together and waiting for one another, after the manner of the 
inhabitants of Western lands, is an idea so foreign to the ordi- 
nary Chinese mind as to be almost incomprehensible. 

This Chinese (and Oriental) habit is at once typical and sug- 
gestive. It marks a wholly different conception of the family, 
and of the position of woman therein, from that to which we 
are accustomed. It indicates the view that while man is yang, 
the male, ruling, and chief element in the universe, woman is 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 303 

yifif ''dull, female, inferior." The conception of woman as 
man's companion is in China almost totally lacking, for woman 
is not the companion of man, and with society on its present 
terms she never can be. A new bride introduced into a family 
has visible relations with no one less than with her " husband." 
He would be ashamed to be seen talking with her, and in 
general they seem in that line to have very little to be ashamed 
of. In those unique instances in which the young couple have 
the good sense to get acquainted with each other, and present 
the appearance of actually exchanging ideas, this circum- 
stance is the joke of the whole family circle, and an insoluble 
enigma to all its members. We have heard of cases in which 
members of a family where there was a newly married 
couple, kept a string in which was tied a knot, every time 
that they were heard to speak to one another. This cord 
would be subsequently exhibited to them in ridicule of their 
intimacy ! 

A Chinese bride has no rational prospect of happiness in her 
new home, though she may be well dressed, well fed, and per- 
haps not abused. She must expect chronic repression through 
the long years during which she is for a time in fact, and in 
theory always, a "child." Such rigorous discipline maybe 
necessary to fit her for the duties of her position, when she shall 
have become herself a mother-in-law, and at the head of a 
company of daughters-in-law, but it is a hard necessity. That 
there are sometimes genuine attachments between mothers-in- 
law and daughters-in-law it would be a mistake to deny, for in 
such rare cases human nature shows its power of rising superior 
to the conventional trammels in which it finds itself by iron 
customs bound. 

To defend herself against the fearful odds which are often 
pitted against her, a Chinese wife has but two resources. One 
of them is her mother's family, which, as we have seen, has no 
real power, and is too often to be compared to the stern light 
of a ship, of no service for protection in advance, and only 



304 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

throwing a lurid glare on the course which has been passed 
over, but which cannot be retraced. 

The other means of defence which a Chinese wife has at her 
command is — herself. If she is gifted with a fluent tongue, 
especially if it is backed by some of that hard common sense 
which so many Chinese exhibit, it must be a very peculiar 
household in which she does not hold her own. Real ability 
will assert itself, and such light as a Chinese woman possesses 
will assuredly permeate every corner of the domestic bushel 
under which it is of necessity hidden. If a Chinese wife has 
a violent temper, if she is able at a moment's notice to raise a 
tornado about next to nothing, and to keep it for an indefinite 
period blowing at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, the po- 
sition of such a woman is almost certainly secure. The most 
termagant of mothers-in-law hesitates to attack a daughter-in- 
law who has no fear of men or of demons, and who is fully 
equal to any emergency. A Chinese woman in a fury is a 
spectacle by no means uncommon. But during the time of the 
most violent paroxysms of fury, Vesuvius itself is not more un- 
manageable by man. 

If a Chinese husband happens to be a person of a quiet 
habit, with no taste for tumults, he may possibly find himself 
yoked to a Xantippe who never for an instant relaxes the reins 
of her dominion. In such cases the prudent man will be glad 
to purchase ^* peace at any price," and whatever the theory 
may be, the woman rules. Such instances are by no means in- 
frequent. This is witnessed as well by what one sees and hears 
in Chinese society as well as by the many sayings which refer 
to the "man-who-fears-what-is-inside," that is, the '< hen- 
pecked man." Although it is an accepted adage that 

" A genuine cat will slay a mouse, 
A genuine man will rule his house," 

yet there are numerous references to the punishment of <' kneel- 
ing-by-the-bedside-holding-a-lamp-on-the-head," which is the 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND WOMEN 305 

penalty exacted by the regnant wife from her disobedient hus- 
band. 

If a Chinese woman has the heaven-bestowed gift of being 
obstreperous to such a degree that, as the sayings go, ** people 
do not know east from west" ; that "men are worn out and 
horses exhausted " ; that ** the mountains tremble and the earth 
shakes," this is unquestionably her surest life-preserver. It is 
analagous to the South American toucan, which is said to 
frighten away enemies by the mere exhibition of itself, they not 
caring to wait for further and detailed proofs of its capacities of 
execution. But if such an endowment has been denied her, 
her next best resource is to pursue a course exactly the op- 
posite, in all circumstances and under all provocations holding 
her tongue. To most Chinese women, this seems to be a feat 
as difficult as aerial navigation, but now and then an isolated 
case shows that the difficult is not always the impossible. 

The present position of woman in China is a heritage of the 
remote past, as is illustrated by the most ancient Chinese litera- 
ture, an example of which heads the present chapter. The 
instructions and the prohibitions in the Book of Rites, one of 
the oldest and most venerated classical works, embody funda- 
mental principles which have always governed the Chinese in 
their treatment of women. The essence of the Chinese clas- 
sical teaching on this subject is, that woman is as inferior to man 
as the earth is inferior to heaven ; and that she can never at- 
tain to full equality with man. 

According to Chinese philosophy death and evil have their 
origin in the Yin^ or female principle of Chinese dualism, while 
life and prosperity come from the subjection of it to the Yang^ 
or male principle ; hence it is regarded as a law of nature to 
keep woman completely under the power of man, and to allow 
her no will of her own. The result of this theory and the cor- 
responding practice is that the ideal for women is not develop- 
ment and cultivation, but submission. Women can have no 
happiness of their own, but must live and work for men, the 



3o6 yiLUGE LIFE IN CHINA 

only practical escape from this degradation being found in be- 
coming the mother of a son. Woman is bound by the same 
laws of existence in the other world. She belongs to the same 
husband, and is dependent for her happiness on the sacrifices 
offered by her descendants.^ 

It is occasionally objected that to attribute the evils attending 
the lot of woman in China to the moral system which has 
molded and preserved that empire, is as inaccurate as it would 
be to hold Christianity responsible for all the moral evils found 
in Christian lands. Between the two cases there is, however, 
this fundamental difference. Every moral evil has from the 
beginning been antagonized by Christianity. Those evils that 
still flourish do so in spite of it, and against its unceasing 
efforts and incessant protest. Christianity acting upon the 
relatively lofty conception of woman, held by the Teutonic 
races, has gradually brought about that elevation of the sex 
which we now witness in full development. The theory of 
Confucianism, on the other hand, is both erroneous and defect- 
ive. It is therefore no exaggeration to charge a large part of 
the evils from which Chinese women suffer to this efficient 
cause. It is moreover highly important to remember that 
neither for evils arising from wrong moral teaching nor for 
others, has Chinese ethics ever furnished either preventive or 
remedy. 

We must, therefore, regard the position of women in China, 
as the ultimate outcome and a most characteristic fruitage of 
Confucianism. In our view it has been a bitter fruit, and in 
recapitulation we would lay emphasis upon seven deadly sins in 
the relation of that system to woman. 

I. Viewed from a purely Chinese point of view there is no 
inherent objection to the education of Chinese women. In 
one of the huge Chinese encyclopedias, out of 1,628 books, 

1 See a small pamphlet on " The Status of Woman in China," by Dr. 
Ernst Faber, Shanghai, 1889, containing many illustrative classical cita- 
tions. 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 307 

376 are devoted to famous women, and of these four chapters 
treat of female knowledge, and seven others of the literary pro- 
ductions of women, works which have been numerous and in- 
fluential. But as compared with the inconceivable numbers of 
Chinese women in the past, these exceptional cases are but iso- 
lated twinkles in vast interstellar spaces of dense darkness. 
Yet in view of the coming regeneration of China, their value 
as historical precedents to antiquity loving Chinese is beyond 
estimation.^ 

Rare and unimportant exceptions aside, Chinese women are 
provided with no education. Their minds are left in a state of 
nature, until millions of them are led to suppose that they have 
no minds at all, an opinion which their fathers, husbands and 
brothers often do much to confirm, and upon which they then 
habitually act. 

II. The sale of wives and daughters. This comes about 
so naturally, and it might almost be said so inevitably, when 
certain conditions prevail, that it is taken by the Chinese as a 
matter of course. Except in years of famine it appears in 
some parts of the empire to be rare, but in other parts it is the 
constant and the normal state of things for daughters to be 
as really sold as are horses and cattle. 

There are sections of northern China in which it is not un- 
common for a man who has contracted debts which he cannot 
otherwise pay, to part with a daughter as a last resort. But 
there are other districts where the practice cannot be excep- 
tional, as is evident from the great number of girls who, one is 
told, have been procured from this region. If the Chinese 
themselves are questioned about the matter, the fact is always 
admitted, the custom is reprobated, but the universally conclu- 
sive inquiry is propounded: " What help is there for it?^^ 

1 For ample illustration of this subject see Dr. Ernst Faber's « The 
Famous Women of China," Shanghai, 1890, and " Typical Women of 
China," by the late Miss A. C. Safford, an abridged translation of a . 
famous and authoritative Chinese work. 



3o8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHIN/I 

In the present condition of the empire this interrogatory is un- 
answerable. 

III. Too early and too universal marriages. A consider- 
able part of the unhappiness caused by Chinese marriages may 
fairly be charged to the immaturity of the victims. To treat 
children as if they were adults, while at the same time treating 
them as children who require the same watch and ward as 
other children, does not appear to be a rational procedure, nor 
can it be claimed that it is justified by its results. That a new 
pair constitute a distinct entity to be dealt with independently, 
is a proposition which Confucianism treats with scorn, if indeed 
it ever entertains such a conception at all. The compulsory 
marriage of all girls forces all Chinese society into cast-iron 
grooves, and leaves no room for exceptional individual devel- 
opment. It throws suspicion around every isolated struggle 
against this galling bondage, and makes the unmarried woman 
seem a personified violation of the decrees of heaven and of 
the laws of man. 

IV. Infanticide of female infants. This is a direct, if not 
a legitimate result of the tenet that male children are absolutely 
indispensable, applied in a social system where dire poverty is 
the rule, and where an additional mouth frequently means im- 
pending starvation. In a chapter in her "Pagoda Shadows," 
on "The Extent of a Great Crime," Miss Fielde combines a 
great variety of testimony taken from several different prov- 
inces, in the following paragraph. "I find that i6o Chinese 
women, all over fifty years of age, had borne 631 sons, and 
538 daughters. Of the sons, 366, or nearly sixty per cent., 
had lived more than ten years ; while of the daughters only 
205, or thirty-eight per cent., had lived ten years. The 160 
women, according to their own statements, had destroyed 158 
of their daughters ; but none had ever destroyed a boy. As 
only four women had reared more than three girls, the proba- 
bility is that the number of infanticides confessed to is consid- 
erably below the truth. I have occasionally been told by a 



CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 3^9 

woman that she had forgotten just how many girls she had had, 
more than she wanted. The greatest number of infanticides 
owned to by any one woman is eleven." 

Infanticide will never cease in China, until the notion that 
the dead are dependent for their happiness upon sacrifices of- 
fered to them by the living shall have been totally overthrown. 

V. Secondary wives. Concubinage is the natural result of 
the Confucian theory of ancestral worship. The misery which 
it has caused and still causes in China is beyond comprehen- 
sion. Nothing can uproot it but a decay of faith in the as- 
sumption underlying all forms of worship of the dead. 

VI. Suicides of wives and daughters. The preceding 
causes, operating singly and in combination, are wholly suffi- 
cient to account for the number of suicides among Chinese 
women. The wonder rather is that there are not more. But 
whoever undertakes to collect facts on this subject for any given 
district will not improbably be greatly surprised at the extraor- 
dinary prevalence of this practice. It is even adopted by chil- 
dren, and for causes relatively trifling. At times it appears to 
spread, like the smallpox, and the thirst for suicide becomes 
virtually an epidemic. As already mentioned, according to 
the native newspapers, there are parts of China in which young 
girls band themselves into a secret league to commit suicide 
within a certain time after they have been betrothed or mar- 
ried. The wretchedness of the lives to which they are con- 
demned is thoroughly appreciated in advance, and fate is thus 
effectually checkmated. It would be wrong to overstate the 
evils suffered by woman in China, evils which have indeed 
many alleviations, and which are not to be compared to those 
of her sisters in India or in Turkey. But after all abatements 
have been made, it remains true that the death-roll of suicides 
is the most convincing proof of the woes endured by Chinese 
women. 

VII. Overpopulation. The whole Chinese race is and al- 
ways has been given up with a single devotion to the task of 



3IO VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

raising up a posterity, to do for the fathers what the fathers 
have done for the grandfathers. In this particular hne, they 
have reaUzed Wesley's conception of the ideal church in its 
line, where, as he remarked, the members are ''All at it, and 
always at it." War, famine, pestilence sweep off millions of 
the population, but a few decades of peace seem to repair the 
ravages of the past, which are lost to sight, like battlefields 
covered with wide areas of waving grain. 

However much we may admire the recuperative power of the 
Chinese people as a whole and individually, it is difficult not to 
feel righteous indignation toward a system which violates those 
beneficent laws of nature which would mercifully put an end 
to many branches of families when such branches are unfitted 
to survive. It is impossible to contemplate with equanimity 
the deliberate, persistent, and uniform propagation of poverty, 
vice, disease and crime, which ought rather to be surrounded 
with every restriction to prevent its multiplication, and to see 
this propagation of evil and misery done, too, with an air of 
virtue, as if this were of itself a kind of religion, often indeed 
the only form of religion in which the Chinese take any vital 
interest. 

It is this system which loads down the rising generation with 
the responsibility for feeding and clothing tens of thousands of 
human beings who ought never to have been bom, and whose 
existence can never be other than a burden to themselves, a 
period of incessant struggle without respite and without hope. 

To the intelligent foreigner, the most prominent fact in 
China is the poverty of its people. There are too many vil- 
lages to the square mile, too many families to the village, too 
many ''mouths " to the family. Wherever one goes, it is the 
same weary tale with interminable reiteration. Poverty, pov- 
erty, poverty, always and evermore poverty. The empire is 
broad, its unoccupied regions are extensive, and its undevel- 
oped resources undoubtedly vast. But in what way can these 
resources be so developed as to benefit the great mass of the 




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CHINESE COUNTRY GIRLS AND IVOMEN 3U 

Chinese people ? By none, with which we are acquainted, or 
of which we can conceive, without a radical disturbance of the 
existing conditions. The seething mass of over-population 
must be drawn off to the regions where it is needed, and then 
only will there be room for the relief of those who remain. 

It is impossible to do anything for people who are wedged 
together after the manner of matches in a box. Imagine a 
surgeon making the attempt to set the broken leg of a man in 
an omnibus in motion, which at the time contained twenty 
other people, most of whom also had broken legs which like- 
wise require setting ! The first thing to do would be to get 
them all unloaded, and to put them where they could be prop- 
erly treated, with room for the treatment, and space for breath- 
ing. It is, we repeat, not easy to perceive how even the most 
advanced political economy can do anything of permanent 
benefit for the great mass of the Chinese without a redistribu- 
tion of the surplus population. But at this point practical 
Confucianism intervenes, and having induced the begetting of 
this swarm of human beings, it declares that they must not 
abandon the graves of their ancestors, who require their sacri- 
fices, but must in the same spot continue to propagate their 
posterity to continue the interminable process. 

The world is still large, and it has, and for ages will doubt- 
less continue to have, ample room for all the additional millions 
which its existing millions can produce. The world was never 
so much in need of the Chinese as to-day, and never, on the 
other hand, were the Chinese more in need of the world. But 
if China is to hold its own, much more if it is to advance as 
other nations have advanced and do advance, it must be done 
under the lead of new forces. Confucianism has been a mighty 
power to build up, and to conserve. But Confucianism with 
its great merits has committed many ^'Deadly Sins," and of 
those sins it must ultimately suffer the penalty. Confucianism 
as a developing force is a force, which is spent. Sooner or later 
it must give way to something stronger, wiser, and better. 



XXIV 

THE MONOTONY AND VACUITY OF VILLAGE LIFE 

TT is difficult to project ourselves backward to the times of our 
-*- great-grandfathers when mails were carried on horseback, 
the postman leisurely knitting stockings as he rode. Yet how- 
ever slow, measured by modern standards, the rural life of a 
century and more ago, it was a varied life, ultimately anastomos- 
ing with the great currents of the age. The rate of progress 
of thought has no necessary correlation to the versatility or the 
virility of mental processes. Our ancestors may perhaps have 
been peasants, but they were an integral part of the land in 
which they dwelt, and they rose and fell with the national tides 
of life like boats in a harbor. 

A Chinese village is physically and intellectually a fixture. 
Could one gaze backward through a vista of five hundred years 
at the panorama which that vast stretch of modern history 
would present, he would probably see little more and little less 
than he sees to-day. The buildings now standing are not in- 
deed five hundred years old, but they are just such houses as 
half a millennium ago occupied the same sites, "similar and 
similarly situated." Some families that then lived in adobe 
dwellings now flourish under roofs of tile in houses of brick. 
Other families have become extinct. Now and then a new one 
may have appeared, but this is irregular and exceptional. 
Those who now subsist in this collection of earth-built abodes 
are the lineal descendants of those who lived there when Co- 
lumbus discovered America. The descendants are doing just 
what their ancestors did, no more, no less, no other. They 
cultivate the same fields in the same way (albeit a few of the 
crops are modern) ; they go to the same markets in the same 
invariable order ; buy, sell, and wear the same articles ; marry 
and are given in marriage according to the same pattern. 

312 



THE MONOTONY AND VACUITY OF VILLAGE LIFE 313 

It was a shrewd suggestion of a philosopher that if we wish 
to understand a people, we should note what things they take 
for granted. The pre-suppositions of a Chinese villager are the 
same as those of his ancestry near and remote. There is in a 
Chinese village as such no intellectual life. If there happen to 
be literary men living in it, they form a little clique by them- 
selves, largely out of relation to their neighbours, and likewise 
to most of their own families. It is an ancient aphorism that 
*' Scholars talk of books — butchers of pigs." We have already 
abundantly seen that the processes of Chinese education are 
narrowing processes, fitting the accomplished student to run 
pnly in grooves. It is almost incredible how narrow these ruts 
become. Each literary examination is a crisis at which one 
either becomes a graduate or does not ; in either case the re- 
sult, whether appertaining to the student himself, the pupils 
whom he has coached, or his own sons, is contemplated purely 
as a personal and an individual matter. It is a literary lottery 
upon which much has been risked, and out of which it is de- 
sirable to recover if possible a prize. If that is out of the 
question all interest in the literary business is at an end. 

Unlike his representative in Western lands, the Chinese vil- 
lage scholar is not a centre or source of illumination to others. 
His life is the ideal of ''subjectivity" — the quintessential es- 
sence of selfishness. It is a venerable superstition of the Chi- 
nese that though the graduate does not emerge from his own 
door, he knows the affairs of all under heaven. As we have 
already had occasion to point out, among the many rhetorical 
exaggerations of Chinese proverbial philosophy this aphorism 
may be held to take the lead. The typical scholar knows noth- 
ing whatever about all-under-heaven. He has no decided 
opinions one way or the other as to whether the earth is round 
or flat, for it is no concern of his. Neither is the current his- 
tory of his own country. National affairs belong to the man- 
darins who get their living by them ; what have such matters to 
do with a literary man who has taken his degree ? 



314 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

The writer is acquainted with an ex-schoolmaster who went 
into a business which often led him to a distance from home. 
About a year after peace had been concluded with Japan, this 
much-travelled merchant inquired during the progress of a call 
if we could inform him how the war turned out, explaining 
that he had heard such contradictory accounts at the capital of 
his province and at Tientsin that he knew not what to believe, 
and had judiciously held his mind entirely in suspense until he 
had an opportunity to see his foreign friend, who might, he 
thought, know for certain ! 

Linked with this dense ignorance and more impenetrable in- 
difference is a most unbounded credulity. Faith in the /e?zg- 
shuiy or geomancy of a district is still as firmly rooted as ever 
in the minds of the leading literary men of the empire, as is 
shown by memorials in the Peking Gazette calling for changes 
in buildings, the erection of lucky towers, etc., because the 
number of successful competitors is not greater. 

A scholar who thinks it necessary to beat drums in order to 
save the sun in an eclipse from the *' Dog " which is devouring 
it, receives with implicit faith the announcement that in West- 
ern lands the years are a thousand days in length, with four 
moons all the time. If some one who has dabbled a little in 
chemistry reports to him a rudimentary experiment in which 
carbonic dioxide poured down a trough extinguishes a row of 
burning candles, he is at once reminded that The Master re- 
fused to speak of feats of magic, and he dismisses the whole 
topic with the verdict : *' Of course it was done by malign 
spirits." 

In this fertile soil every kind of mischievous tale takes root 
downward, and in due time bears its bitter fruit, as many for- 
eigners in China know to their cost. Were it not for the cre- 
dulity of the literary men in China, riots against foreigners would 
seldom or never occur. It is a melancholy fact that vast num- 
bers of this class, especially in the rural districts, are pro- 
foundly convinced of the truth of the worst allegations made 



THE MONO TON Y AND VACUIT Y OF VILLAGE LIFE 3 1 5 

against the men of the West, while still greater numbers are 
absolutely indifferent to the matter unless it happens in some 
way to affect themselves. 

The learned and semi-intelligent vacuity of the village 
scholar is more than matched by the ignorant vacuity of his 
illiterate neighbours. If he happens to have travelled, 
the latter has indubitably the better education of the two, for 
the reason that it is based (as far as it goes) upon facts. But if 
he is a typical villager he has never been anywhere to speak of, 
and knows nothing in particular. His conversation is filled 
with unutterable inanities till he is gathered to his fathers. In 
every Chinese village one sees, except at the busiest times, 
groups of men sitting in the sunshine in winter, in the shade in 
summer, on some friendly stick of timber, and clustered in the 
little temples which constitute the village exchange. Even in 
the depth of winter they continue to huddle together in a vain 
effort to be comfortable as well as sociable, and chatter, chatter 
all the day, or until it is time to go to their meals. The past, 
present, and future state of the weather, the market prices, 
local gossip, and especially the details of the latest lawsuit form 
the warp and woof of this unending talk. What the Magis- 
trate asked of Chang when he was examined, what Chang re- 
pried, what Wang retaliated, as well as what the Official had to 
say to that, with interminable iterations and profuse commen- 
tary furnish the most interesting and the most inexhaustible 
themes for discourse. 

For any official changes unless it be that of his own District 
Magistrate the villager cares very little. At a time when it was 
supposed that His Majesty Kuang Hsii had been made way 
with, the writer remarked to a Chinese friend that there was 
reason to fear that here was an empire without an Emperor. A 
villager of the sluggish type just mentioned, who had heard 
nothing of the news from Peking, inquired of what country the 
observation had been made, and when the answer had been 
given that it was the Central Empire, he reflected for a moment, 



3i6 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

and merely replied, "Oh", with the air of one who had 
feared it might be worse ! Yet the rustic of this class is 
shrewd in his own affairs, and by no means deficient in prac- 
tical intelligence. He is passionately fond of hearing story- 
tellers and of witnessing plays having for their heroes the great 
men of the Three Kingdoms seventeen hundred years ago, and 
on occasion he might be able to tell us much about these 
characters and their deeds. But modern and contemporaneous 
history is out of his line, and lacks flavour. It is most literally 
none of his business, and he knows nor cares nothing about it. 
The whole map of Asia might be reconstructed, and it would 
have for him no interest whatever, provided it did not increase 
his taxes nor raise the price of grain. 

We have already mentioned that the villager who has been 
far from home is a conspicuous exception to the general vacuity 
of mind so often to be met. He has a rich and a varied ex- 
perience which he is willing although not forward to relate. 
But it is a striking fact that the man of this sort when he re- 
turns to go abroad no more, tends speedily to relapse into the 
prevailing type. He may have been in every one of the Eight- 
een Provinces, or possibly in foreign lands, yet on his settling 
down to his old ways he has no more curiosity to know what 
is going on elsewhere, than a man who had at some time in his 
life been shipwrecked would have to know what had become 
of the shoals of fish with which for a time he was in fortuitous 
proximity. When it is considered how vast a proportion of the 
whole population live in villages, and when we contemplate in 
detail the meagreness and poverty of the mental output, an im- 
pressive conception is gained of the intellectual barrenness of 
the Flowery Empire. The phenomena which we everywhere 
see are the outward expression of inner forces which have been 
at work for more than two thousand years. The longer they 
are considered and the more thoroughly they are understood 
the more profoundly will it be seen and felt that the " answer 
to Confucianism is China." 



XXVI 

UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE CHINESE FAMILY 

'TpHE family is the unit of Chinese social life and, as we have 
"^ often had occasion to observe, the Chinese Family is a 
highly complex organization, with many aspects which some- 
times appear mutually contradictory. To the consideration of 
one of these polyhedral faces we now turn, asking the reader to 
bear well in mind that while what we have to say contains im- 
portant truth, this is but one out of many points of view. 

The instability of the equilibrium of the Chinese family 
arises from its constitution, from its environment, and from 
the relation between the two. Let us first glance at some of 
the exterior causes. In a large portion of the empire the rain- 
fall is more or less uncertain, rendering famine a perpetual pos- 
sibility. Within the past quarter of a century foreigners in 
China have had superabundant opportunities to study the phe- 
nomena of famine upon a great scale. The misery thus occa- 
sioned is inconceivable, but we wish to refer only to the result- 
ant disruption of families. Nothing is more common than to 
find that the father has gone to some distant region hoping to 
secure a bare sustenance leaving the wife and children to shift 
for themselves. This is not because he does not care for them, 
nor because he desires the separation, but because there is 
literally <<no help for it." 

Large portions of the empire are liable to inundation, often 
with little or no warning. Those who contrive to save them- 
selves wander off whither they can, generally in family groups, 
but not infrequently one by one.* Children are born and 

*An extreme case of chronic misery from this cause is found in the 
Hsifin District of Chih-li, where there is a section wedged in between the 



3i8 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

children die on these haphazard journeys nowhither. The 
elders die too, and sometimes a marriageable girl is disposed of 
for life to some husband who could not afford the expense of an 
ordinary wedding. It is proverbial that there are no cere- 
monies for a second marriage, and whenever a family is broken 
up, it is highly probable that all the widows will soon find 
partners, the union liable to be discontinued whenever there is 
again a scarcity of food. 

Political disturbances which often rise to the dignity of small 
rebellions operate in the same way as famines and floods. In 
any of these cases families once widely dispersed are not likely 
again to recombine. 

It is not in times of special stress only that families are 
parted. In several of the provinces of China a considerable 
proportion of the adult males earn their living at great distances 
from home. 

Myriads of Chinese from the northern portion of China get 
such a livelihood as they can in Manchuria or elsev/here be- 
yond the Great Wall, hundreds or thousands of miles from 
home, to which multitudes never return. Innumerable Chinese 
mothers never learn what has become of their sons, who went 
away in early youth to be heard of no more. Communication 
is irregular and uncertain, and uniformly untrustworthy. No 
wonder the current adage declares that when the son has gone 
a thousand miles the mother grieves.^ The Chinese Enoch 

high artificial banks of two rivers. Every year many villages are deluged 
as a matter of course, and the houses have been repeatedly destroyed. 
No autumn crop can ever be raised here, but wheat is put in after the 
waters have subsided. In the winter one sees many of the houses with 
doors and windows plastered up, almost all the inhabitants having gone 
off in droves to beg a living where they can, returning the next spring to 
look after their wheat. This has become a regular practice even with 
families who own fifty or sixty acres of land, and who elsewhere would be 
called well off. 

^ A case of this sort came to the writer's notice in which a man from 
Ho-nan had gathered a stock of goods amounting to more than the value 



UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE CHINESE FAMILY 319 

Arden perhaps returns from an absence of possibly ten or it 
may be twenty years, enters his house, throws down his bundle 
and without a question or a greeting to any one, proceeds to 
take a solacing smoke. He may have been away so long that 
no one recognizes him, and perhaps he is taken for a tramp and 
warned off. But he merely replies <* Why should I not make 
myself at home in my own house ? " and resumes his smoking, 
leaving details to be filled in later. 

The equilibrium of every Chinese family is liable to be dis- 
turbed by an evil which may not unlikely work more mischief 
than an ordinary earthquake — to wit, a lawsuit. There is not 
a day in the life of any Chinese when his peace, his prosperity, 
and possibly his life may not be endangered by some complica- 
tion for which he is not in any way responsible, but from which 
escape is practically impossible. Let not the reader suppose 
that most Chinese are entangled in the meshes of the law, for 
this is not the case. But there is always the unavoidable lia- 
bility. A moment of uncontrollable passion on the part of any 
one of a score of persons, may precipitate a crisis involving the 
expenditure of the greater part of one's resources, subjection to 
protracted detention in jail, to torture, to punishment of im- 
measurable barbarity, and to virtual starvation in prison unless 
the means of the family are drained to prevent it. Not every 
lawsuit has within it such phenomena as these, but they are 
everywhere potential, for no one can predict where or how any 
suit will end. It is not alone the principals who suffer in cases 
of this sort, for, as the current saying runs, "When one family 
has trouble none of the four neighbours are in peace." 

of fifty Mexican dollars, and departed for Manchuria, nearly 1,500 miles 
distant, in order to learn what had become of his sister's son who had left 
home in anger. The goods were disposed of to pay travelling expenses, 
but the journey of a few months as planned, was lengthened to more than 
a year. The poor man fell sick, his goods were spent, and he was many 
months slowly begging his way back, and after all had learned nothing of 
his nephew. 



3ao VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Attention has been repeatedly called to the familiar fact that 
practically no Chinese can maintain financial independence. 
To a foreigner nothing is more amazing than the reckless 
manner in which a debt is contracted which subsequently 
proves to have within it the fruitful seeds of ruin for the whole 
family. It is vain to ask why the money was borrowed. One 
might as well inquire why one is so wet who has been out all 
night in a Scotch mist. Ages of experience have made the 
Chinese relentless creditors, and woe to him who owes but can- 
not pay. China is full of small dealers with a limited capital, 
who do well enough in ordinary years. A very small percent- 
age contrives to get so far ahead as to buy land, and thus the 
family is rooted to the soil. But a far larger number lose the 
capital invested, are obliged to sell their little holdings to pay 
their dues, and thenceforth they join the great, hopeless, land- 
less class. A single failure of one important crop may carry 
with it consequences of this kind to many small dealers. In 
China the man or the family which is loaded with a debt be- 
yond the recuperative power of the debtor, finds itself upon an 
oiled toboggan-slide at the bottom of which is remediless ruin. 

In the families of the poor there is no margin of any kind for 
sickness, but sickness comes impartially to every grade of life. 
When the bread-winner is laid aside, when the mother of a little 
flock is no longer able to keep the simple domestic machinery 
in motion, then indeed trouble has arrived. If a young mar- 
ried woman is sick, the first step is to send for her mother ; for 
ordinarily no one in the family into which she has married has 
the time or disposition to Jake care of her, least of all the hus- 
band, who regards himself as aggrieved by her disability, and 
who is often far more inclined to expect the family of his wife 
to bear all the resultant expenses, than to meet them himself. 
One of the legal occasions for divorce is chronic illness, al- 
though we have never heard of a single instance where formal 
steps were taken for that reason. It is a current saying that 
in the presence of a long continued sickness there is no filial 



UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE CHINESE FAMILY 321 

son. How great the family strain often is, there are many 
things to prove. In the midst of it all one is sometimes agree- 
ably surprised to find an amount of tenderness and forbearance 
worthy of all praise. But in the constitution of Chinese society 
these exhibitions are and must be in a great minority. A man 
well known to the writer in speaking of the serious symptoms 
of a disease of his wife, remarked that he had asked her how 
long she expected to keep up the groans called forth by the in- 
tolerable agonies of terrible and incurable ulcers, and that for 
his part he had offered to provide her with a rope that she 
might relieve him of his inconvenience, and herself of her 
miseries, though upon being remonstrated with for such an in- 
human view of the case, he frankly admitted that his troubles 
had made him "stupid." It is a significant saying in such in- 
stances that the sufferer although poor has contracted a rich 
man's malady. 

The disintegrating forces which operate in the Chinese family 
are more efficient in the homes of the poor than of the rich, be- 
cause there is less power of resistance. But there are two of 
these agencies which imply a certain degree of prosperity ere 
they can be fully developed, the gambling and the opium habit, 
twin vices of the Chinese race. Each leads by swift and re- 
lentless steps to destruction, and in each case there ensues at 
last what is virtually a paralysis of the will, making amendment 
impossible. Against these gigantic evils there is in Chinese so- 
ciety no safeguard whatever, no preventive influences, and no 
remedies. It would be easy to illustrate in terrible detail how 
these forces act insidiously, universally and irresistibly. The 
wonder is that the track of devastation is not even wider. They 
take rank among the most destructive instrumentalities in 
Chinese social life. It is very rare indeed to hear of reform from 
either of these vices, when there has been no impulse imparted 
from without, and it is rarer that there is any one who can and 
who will impart it. 

To this dark catalogue of maleficent forces must be added 



Saa VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

one more, violation of social morality. To what extent this 
prevails in any given place it is impossible for any Chinese — 
much less for any foreigner — to say with authority. There is 
among the people, despite their loquacity — an instinct of ret- 
icence in every way commendable. Little value is placed 
upon infant life. The air is always full of rumors and sus- 
picious whispers, so that the judicious will believe nothing of 
which there is not positive evidence. The Chinese code of 
morals is a lofty one, both in theory and in practice. The so- 
cial arrangements are all made with a carefulness which to the 
Occidental seems mere prudery, but which the accumulated ex- 
perience of millenniums has convinced the Chinese to be not 
only wise, but indispensable. 

Yet in the conditions of everyday life it is simply impossible 
that theoretical regulations should be reduced to practice. The 
elderly women die, and courtyards are left from sheer neces- 
sity in a condition to invite catastrophe. Against a bad father- 
in-law especially if he be a widower — there is in the Chinese 
social economy no provision and no defence. It is proverbial 
that insinuations lurk about the dwelling-place of widows. In 
a word it may almost be said that no one has absolute con- 
fidence in any one else. 

In spite of all apparent evidence to the contrary, there is 
adequate reason to believe that Chinese social morality at its 
best is fully equal to that of any Western land. Yet it is 
necessary to take careful note of the circumstance that the con- 
sequences of a lapse from virtue are destitute of the ameliora- 
tions with which we have become familiar. The principal con- 
cern of everyone interested is the '*face" of the family in- 
volved, and to save this imaginary self-respect it may be neces- 
sary for some one to commit suicide, which is done with the 
smallest provocation at all times. No Chinese is ever quite 
free from the dread that some one of his household may take 
this step. Provision is expressly made in Chinese law for the 
punishment of those who can be proved to have * Purged to 



UNSTABLE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE CHINESE FAMILY 323 

death" others; a crime which is treated as manslaughter. 
This fact alone would serve as a guage of the wide interval be- 
tween the civilizations of the west and of China. 

All Chinese may be said to have strongly developed an at- 
tachment to the family in which they were born, and most of 
them have also strong family affections running in specific and 
limited channels, and by no means evenly distributed. They 
share with the rest of the race a desire to make their families 
perpetual, and when they fail, as they so frequently do, their 
failure is the more conspicuous by reason of their inalienable 
attachment to their natal soil. In order more deeply to ex- 
plore some of the causes of their want of success, it will be 
necessary to go farther below the surface of the Chinese 
family. 



XXVI 

INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 

'TpO give a correct diagnosis of the inner causes of the dis- 
"■' unity of Chinese social and family life without at the 
same time grossly misrepresenting both the Chinese character 
and society, is a hopeless undertaking. Merely to note even 
the most authentic and typical facts is to convey an impression 
which is incorrect because it is not proportional. Every family 
contains within itself the seeds of disunity, and if they do not 
in all cases produce their appropriate harvest, it is because they 
are mercifully blighted or counteracted in their development. 

Of each Chinese family a full half has had or will have in- 
terests largely at variance with those of the other half. Every 
Chinese wife came by no choice of her own from some other 
family, being suddenly and irrevocably grafted as a wild stock 
upon the family tree of her husband. As we have already 
seen, she is not received with enthusiasm, much less with 
affection (the very idea of which in such a connection never 
enters any Chinese mind) but at best with mild toleration, and 
not infrequently with aggressive criticism. She forms a link 
with another set of interests from which by disruption she has 
indeed been dissevered, but where her attachments are centred. 
The affection of most Chinese children for their mothers is 
very real and lasting. The death of the mother is for a 
daughter especially the greatest of earthly calamities. Filial 
piety in its cruder and more practical aspects constantly leads 
the married daughter to wish to transfer some of the property 
of the husband's family to that of her mother. The tempta- 
tion to do so is often irresistible, and sometimes continues 
through life, albeit with many dramatic checks. The Chinese 

324 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 325 

speak of this habit in metaphorical phrase as *' a leak at the 
bottom" which is proverbially hard to stop. It is a current 
saying that of ten married daughters, nine pilfer more or less. 
It is not uncommon to hear this practice assigned as one of the 
means by which a family is reduced to the verge of poverty. 
The writer once had occasion to acquaint a Chinese friend with 
the fact that a connection by marriage had recently died. He 
replied thoughtfully : "It is well she is dead; she was glut- 
tonous, she was lazy; and beside she stole things for her 
mother ! " 

Visits to the mother's family constitute by far the most sub- 
stantial joys in the life of a young Chinese married woman. 
It is her constant effort to make them as numerous as possible, 
and it is the desire of her husband's family to restrict them, 
since her services are thus partially lost to them. To prevent 
them from being wholly so, she is frequently loaded down with 
twice as much sewing as she could do in the time allowed, and 
sent off with a troop of accompanying children, if she has 
reached so advanced a stage as to be a mother of a flock. An 
invasion of this kind is often regarded with open dissatisfaction 
by her father and brothers, and what could be more natural 
than her desire to appease them by the spoils which she may 
have wrested from the Philistines ? 

After the death of her mother the situation has materially 
altered. The sisters-in-law have now no restraint on their crit- 
icisms upon her appearance with her hungry brood, and her 
whole stay may not improbably be a struggle to maintain what 
she regards as her rights. It is one of the many pathetic 
sights with which Chinese society abounds to witness the 
effort to seem to keep alive a spark of fire in coals which have 
visibly gone out. Not to have any "mother's family" to 
which to go is regarded as the depth of misery for a mar- 
ried woman, since it is a proclamation that she no longer has 
any one to stand up for her in case she should be abused. To 
discontinue altogether the visits thither is to some extent a loss 



326 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

of face, which every Chinese feels keenly. We have known an 
old woman left absolutely alone in the world, obliged at the 
age of ninety-four to gather her own fuel and do whatever she 
wanted done for herself, except draw water, which was fur- 
nished her by a distant relative as an act of special grace. 
Her poverty was so abject that she was driven to mix fine 
earth with the little meal that sufficed for her scanty food, that 
it might last the longer. Yet this poor creature would some- 
times be missed from her place, when it was reported that she 
had gone on a visit to her *' mother's family " consisting of the 
great-grandchildren of those whom she had known in youth ! 

By the time a married woman had reached middle life her 
interest in her original home may have greatly weakened. 
There are now young marriageable girls of her own growing 
up, each of whom in turn repeats the experience of her mother. 
To their fathers and also to their brothers these girls are at once 
a problem and a menace. Could the birth-rate of girls be de- 
termined by ballot of all the males of full age, it is probable 
that in a few generations the Chinese race would become extinct. 
The expression " commodity-on-which-money-has-been-lost," is 
a common periphrasis for a girl. They no sooner learn a little 
sewing, cooking, etc., than they are exported, and it is pro- 
verbial that water spilled on the ground is a synonym for a daugh- 
ter. " Darnel will not do for the grain-tax, and daughters will 
never support their mothers." These modes of speech repre- 
sent modes of thought, and the prevailing thought, although 
happily not the only thought of the Chinese people. 

Girls as a rule have next to no opportunities for cultivating 
friendships with one another. The readiness with which un- 
der favourable condition such attachments are formed and per- 
petuated, shows how great a loss is their persistent absence. 
When it is considered that each Chinese family consists not of 
a man and his wife and their children, but of married sons, and 
of their several wives, each one introduced into the circle in 
the same compulsory way, each with a strong and an uncurbed 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 327 

will, yet powerless to assert herself except by harsh speeches 
and bad temper, it is evident that the result is not likely to be 
unity. 

In the eye of Chinese law brothers are equal, and though the 
elder has some advantages, a portion larger than that of the 
others is not one of them. Sometimes the young married pair 
are given an outfit, say of cotton, for spinning and weaving, 
and are thenceforth expected to support themselves by this 
capital and their own added labour. Not infrequently an un- 
equal distribution of the land is made among several brothers 
by the father while living, a wrong for which there is no remedy 
other than remonstrance. Neither if the father should con- 
ceive the idea of depriving a son of any portion at all in the 
land, is there effective redress. 

Should the property be held in common according to Chinese 
traditions, it is a physical, a psychological, and a moral im- 
possibility that there should not be ceaseless friction among so 
many claimants for what is often at best a most inadequate 
support. 

The Chinese ideal is to hold the family property in common 
indefinitely. But the Chinese themselves are conscious that 
theirs is not an ideal world, so that division of the land cannot 
always be postponed. It not infrequently happens that one of 
the sons becomes discontented, and commissions one of the 
neighbours to tell the father that it is time to effect a division. 
At such times the family affairs are put into the hands of third 
parties who are supposed to be entirely disinterested, but some- 
times the family has itself so well under control as to be able 
to dispense with this important assistance. The middlemen 
who have to conduct operations, begin by taking an inventory 
of the numerous pieces of land, the buildings, etc., which they 
then appraise roughly, endeavouring to separate these assets into 
as many portions as there are to be shares. A certain part of 
the land is set aside for '< nourishing the old age " of the par- 
ents ; and perhaps another section is reserved for the wedding 



328 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

expenses of unmarried daughters or younger sons. What re- 
mains is to be divided, which is accomphshed by grouping the 
portions, and writing the descriptions of the several pieces of 
land, houses, etc., on pieces of paper which are rolled up 
and placed in a rice-bowl. This is shaken up and it is a 
courtesy to allow the youngest son to draw first. Whatever is 
noted on his bit of paper represents his share, and so on 
until all are drawn. The household furniture, water-jars, 
utensils of every kind, and all the grain and fuel on hand 
must be all taken out in public in the presence of the mid- 
dlemen to be sure that nothing is secreted. We have known 
a particularly obstreperous son to come to his father's house 
the day after a division, and under pretence of looking for 
something which he had lost, to feel in every jar and pot to 
be sure that no beans or millet had escaped him. In a family 
where harmony reigns, all this trouble is avoided, but such are 
altogether exceptional. Shrewd Chinese estimate that out of 
every ten families which *' divide " seven, if not nine, will have 
a domestic tempest as a concomitant, and these storms vary all 
the way from a short, sharp squall, to a hurricane which leaves 
everything in a wreck. / 

It is the Chinese theory that parents are to be taken care of 
in old age by their children either in combination or in rota- 
tion. But cases in which aged mothers have a portion to them- 
selves, doing all their OAvn cooking and most of the other nec- 
essary work are everywhere numerous. A Westerner is con- 
stantly struck with the undoubted fact that the mere act of 
dividing a property seems to extinguish all sense of responsi- 
bility whatever for the nearest of kin. It is often replied when 
we ask why a Chinese does not help his son or his brother who 
has a large family and nothing in the house to eat, "We have 
divided somo. time ago." The real explanation is perhaps to be 
found in the accumulated exasperations of the larger part of a 
lifetime, once delivered from which, a Chinese feels that he 
can judiciously expend his energies in looking out for Number 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 3±9 

One, leaving the rest of the series to do the same as best they 
may. 

If a member of a family is absent when a division is made, 
it is common to hear that advantage has been taken of that fact 
to assign to him a portion which he would not have quietly ac- 
cepted had he been present. This is particularly the case with 
the family debts, often aggregating a large sum. Sometimes a 
young man is forced to begin life weighted down with several 
hundred thousand cash worth of these liabilities due to some 
unprofitable partnership of his father with his uncles — which 
may have extended over a period of perhaps many years. 

Another most undesirable but unavoidable asset is " empty 
grain-tax land ! " This means a liability to pay the tax on 
land which is non-existent, but which has been made to appear 
to exist by mismeasurements in former years, either by accident 
or design. Suppose, for example, that a family has a hundred 
acres of land, which has to be sold in small pieces from time 
to time as occasion arises. Each surveying party works from 
such indefinite boundaries as the stump of an aged mulberry 
bush to another stump which may prove to be missing. The one 
who buys the land will use his best efforts to see that he gets 
good measure, which it is no concern of the measurers to refuse. 
No one knows exactly what is left until some final measurement 
becomes necessary, when it often appears that there is a short- 
age of a considerable amount. From deficits like this there 
arises the necessity of paying ** empty taxes," and though the 
tax itself is sufficiently solid and substantial, there is no way 
known to Chinese practice by which such injustice can be rec- 
tified. The son who finds himself saddled with this sort of a 
burden is not likely to contribute to the harmony of the house- 
hold in future, and were he ever so much inclined to bury the 
matter in oblivion and *' eat a dumb man's loss," his wife would 
never stop talking about it, unless she chanced to be dumb her- 
self. A complete catalogue of the possible and indeed inevi- 
table occasions which produce family alienations and bitterness 



330 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

would of itself fill a volume, but those which have been sug- 
gested may serve as samples of them all. 

It deserves mention that when the strain has reached the 
breaking point, especially when it is difficult for the aggrieved 
individual to go off to a great distance and escape his woes, he 
is often seized by the idea of administering poison to the per- 
son hated. Were the list of toxic substances available to the 
Chinese larger, poisoning would be far more frequent than at 
present. As it is cases are everywhere to be heard of, and oc- 
casionally foreigners are the victims. 

While this chapter was in preparation a Chinese friend 
called to ask advice. He had a nephew thirty-six years of age, 
who until recently had never been married. He is a dull 
witted man, with very little property, and had never been re- 
garded as a desirable match. About five months previous to 
the recent occurrence which led to the request for advice, a girl 
aged sixteen was found who had a deformity in one limb pre- 
venting her from making a match. A go-between proposed 
her for this bachelor and it was arranged that he should pay 
her family eight strings of cash for '' bridal outfit," and in due 
time the marriage took place. As might have been expected 
it was a conspicuously infelicitous one. On the twenty-sixth 
day of the first moon of the current year, the husband ate a 
bowl of millet which seemed to him to have a singular taste, 
but he did not suspect poison until he had taken it all, when he 
saw arsenic at the bottom. After violent retching he was some- 
what relieved. The next day but one the same thing occurred, 
the symptoms being graver. He vigorously remonstrated, and 
his bride left for her home some miles away. The husband 
was now very ill, and was waited on for some days by his un- 
cle, at the times of whose visit for advice the nephew's life was 
supposed to be out of danger. The uncle wanted to know 
what should be done about it. In an empire where "talka- 
tiveness" is a legal ground for divorce, it naturally appeared to 
an Occidental that repeated, albeit clumsy attempts at poison- 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 331 

ing might be equally so. But the uncle explained that there 
was a sister-in-law who objected. Why? Apparently because 
having invested eight strings of cash in a wife it was a pity to 
lose her for a mere trifle like this ! The matter was put into 
the hands of peace-talkers, who arranged that the relative who 
had brought the bride the arsenic should kotow to the man 
poisoned by the arsenic, and that the family of the bride should 
pay the injured husband fifteen strings of cash wherewith to 
recruit his depleted vitality. Meantime the bride remained at 
her mother's home, where one of the women was said to have 
beaten her a little. She is not divorced, her husband being re- 
luctant to proceed to such extremities, in part on account of 
the large investment originally made, and in part for fear of 
ridicule. In due time she will probably be sent back to his 
home to resume her experiments in the art of making home 
happy. 

Thus far we have spoken of disunity of Chinese families as 
promoted by that intense subjectivity to which we give the 
name selfishness. There are, however, many other factors to 
be taken into account, which have to do with racial habits and 
race traits. 

To affirm that every Chinese is a natural liar is a grievous 
error. On the contrary we believe the Chinese to be by far 
the most truthful of Asiatics. Yet there can be no doubt that 
disingenuousness is to them a second nature. It runs through 
the warp and woof of their life. 

A witness in a Chinese lawsuit (where veracity is more than 
ordinarily important) usually begins his mixture of three-tenths 
fact with seven-tenths fiction with the remark : "I will not de- 
ceive Your Honour." In this he speaks the truth, for His Honour 
knows perfectly well that the witness is lying, and the witness 
knows that His Honour knows it. The only question is in re- 
gard to the percentage of falsehood, and as to which particular 
statements come under that head. The same principles are in 
operation in the family life as in court. Most husbands know 



33^ yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

better than to confide the real state of their affairs to their 
wives. Children in turn constantly conceal from their parents 
what ought to be known, and are themselves deceived when- 
ever it becomes convenient to do so. A Chinese woman known 
to the writer when a mere child was one day told by her mother 
that she must not go upon the street to play as usual, but must 
remain in the house and have her clothes changed. This was 
done, and before she knew it, she was thrust into a sedan-chair, 
and was on the way to the house of her "husband," for this 
was her marriage ! The conditions which would make such an 
occurrence possible, would produce quite naturally many phe- 
nomena of a disagreeable description. It is a popular adage 
that **She who knows how to behave as a daughter-in-law will 
prevaricate at both her homes, while the inexpert daughter-in- 
law reveals what she knows at each of them " — and is in con- 
stant trouble in consequence. 

Despite their disadvantages wives may contrive to conceal 
from their husbands the fact that they have a little property in 
the hands of some member of the wife's family. The writer 
is acquainted with a Chinese almost sixty years of age, who 
has a flock of grandchildren, but who will have nothing to do 
with his wife nor she with him. During all their married life, 
between thirty and forty years, he has cherished the suspicion 
that she has somewhere at interest a considerable sum of money 
which she will not share with him. It is certainly not true 
that all Chinese deceive one another, but it is surely true that 
there is always danger of it, which everywhere begets unrest 
and suspicion. It is also an allied phenomenon that the prin- 
cipals in a matter may be totally unable to ascertain the real 
facts with which every one else is perfectly acquainted, but 
which no one will tell. 

Mencius remarked that the feeling of pity is common to all 
men, and what was true in his day is no less so now. At the 
same time there are wide differences in its exhibition. Every 
Chinese is a seasoned soldier in the warfare of life and is ac- 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 333 

customed to every form and grade of misery. His first thought 
at such a spectacle is not, Cannot something be done about it ? 
but if he has a thought at all it is far more likely to be, Why 
should / do anything about it ? Ages of hereditary experience 
have taught him not too rashly to indulge in sentimental be- 
nevolence which may have disagreeable sequelae. A Chinese 
remarked in the writer's hearing while glancing at the corpse 
of a man who had died far from home under painful circum- 
stances : ''This plaything will be hard to transport." Of 
what we call sympathy he had not the smallest conception. A 
few years later this same individual was seized by the District 
Magistrate of the county in which he lived, thrust into the 
standing-cage (a punishment far more horrible than the slicing 
process, since the victim is conscious but is in a position of acute 
agony without food or water until he miserably perishes) with 
no definite charge of any kind against him, and with no trial 
whatever. The only comment of many of these who had once 
known him well, was either that it was just what might have 
been expected, or that it was probably just what he deserved. 

The typical Chinese is a good-natured, even-tempered, 
peaceable individual, ready to do his part in life without shirk- 
ing, and asking only for fair treatment. But as the placid sur- 
face of many lakes is often lashed into fury by sudden and 
violent winds pouring down through mountain gorges, so the 
equilibrium of the Chinese is liable to be destroyed by gusts of 
terrible passion, instantly transforming him from a quiet mem- 
ber of a well ordered society, into an impressive object-lesson 
on the reality of demon possession. Whether life is worth liv- 
ing has been thought ''to depend upon the liver." In China 
one might rather affirm that it hinges upon the spleen. Some 
of our readers may not be unfamiliar with a legend of a dis- 
tinguished American who was provided by his kind father with 
a little hatchet which he tried upon a favourite cherry tree with 
marked success. When the father discovers this, he asks who 
did the deed, upon which the child handsomely confesses, and 



334 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

is clasped to his father's arms with the remark that he would 
rather lose many cherry trees than to have his son tell a lie. 
The whole occurrence probably did not consume more than 
ten minutes. To illustrate some of the traits of disunity al- 
ready mentioned, let us translate this incident into Chinese. 

Mr. Hua Hsing-tun was a well-to-do farmer, who had in his 
courtyard a handsome pomegranate tree of which he was very 
proud. His youngest son one day got hold of a sickle, which 
had been sharpened ready to cut wheat the next morning. 
With this implement he chopped at everything he saw, and 
among the rest, at the pomegranate tree which fell at the third 
blow. Seeing what mischief he had done, he ran to the other 
end of the village where he played with some boys whom he 
told that a cousin (the third son of his fourth uncle) had done 
the deed. This was overheard by a neighbour who passed on 
to the other end of the village just in time to hear Mr. Hua 
angrily roaring out the inquiry who had spoiled his pet tree. 
During a lull in the storm the neighbour, who had stepped into 
the courtyard to see what was the matter, confided to another 
neighbour that it was the nephew who had done the mischief. 
The neighbours soon after depart. As no one in the yard 
knows anything about the tree, Mr. Hua, white with rage, con- 
tinues his bawling upon the village street, denouncing the indi- 
vidual who had killed his tree. An older son who has just 
come up, having heard the story of the two neighbours, repeats 
it to his father, who gaining at last a clue, rushes to his fourth 
brother's yard, only to find no one at home but his sister-in- 
law, whom he begins to revile in the most outrageous m.anner. 
For an instant only she is surprised, then takes in the situation 
and screams at her brother-in-law, returning his revilings with 
compound interest added. He retreats into the alley and 
thence to the street, whither she follows him, shrieking at the 
top of her voice. 

At this juncture the unfortunate nephew alleged to be the 
author of the mischief attracted by the clamour comes home, 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 335 

when the infuriated uncle administers a great deal of abusive 
language relative to his illegitimate descent from a base ances- 
try, as well as a stunning blow with a stick. This drives the 
mother of the child to frenzy, and she attacks her brother-in- 
law by seizing his queue, being immediately pulled off by the 
second brother, and some neighbours, there being now fifty or 
more spectators. The fourth sister-in-law is forcibly dragged 
back to her own yard by several other women, screaming defi- 
ance as she goes, and ends by scratching her own face in long 
furrows with her sharp nails, being presently covered with 
blood. Her husband has now come in furious at the insult to 
his family, reviles the elder brother (and his ancestry) declar- 
ing that he will immediately go to the yamdn and lodge a com- 
plaint. He takes a string of cash and departs on this errand, 
but is subsequently followed several miles by six men, who 
spend two hours in trying to get him to return, with the promise 
that they will *'talk peace." About midnight they all reach 
home. Most of the next five days is spent in interviews be- 
tween third parties, who in turn have other conferences with 
the principals. At the expiration of this period all is settled. 
Mr. Hua the elder is to make a feast at an expense of not less 
than ten strings of cash, at which he shall admit that he was in 
error in reviling this sister-in-law at that time ; the younger 
brother is to accept the apology in the presence of fourteen 
other men who have become involved in the matter at some of 
its stages. When the feast has been eaten, "harmony" is re- 
stored. But what about the author of all this mischief? Oh, 
**he is only a child." With which observation the whole af- 
fair is dismissed, and forgotten. 

Chinese quarrels are objectionable by reason of their sudden- 
ness, their violence, and their publicity. The last named 
feature is the one most repugnant to Western civilization which 
has not yet learned how to avoid domestic disputes itself. As 
every occurrence immediately becomes public property, the 
element of "face" at once enters in, demanding an adjust- 



336 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

ment which shall put the injured party right in the presence of 
the rest of creation always conceived as looking critically on. 

One of the most melancholy phenomena of Chinese life is 
the suddenness, the spontaneity, the inexorableness with which 
natural affection and all kindly relations under certain condi- 
tions seem absolutely to wither up. If a member of a clan 
comes into collision with the prejudices of the generation above 
his own, or even with that to which he himself belongs, his 
grandfather, father, great uncles, uncles, cousins, and brothers 
often promise to break his legs, rub out his eyes with quick- 
lime, and the like, and not infrequently carry these threats into 
execution. It is constantly mentioned as a mitigation of an 
attack with violence, that there was no intention to kill the in- 
dividual, only to maul him till he had so many broken bones 
that he could not stir ! 

If the matter comes to a lawsuit, it is a common cry that no 
compromise shall ever be made, until the opponent has parted 
with his last piece of land. The suspense of mind under 
which many Chinese habitually live, uncertain whether these 
menaces will be carried into execution, would drive an Occi- 
dental to insanity or to suicide, or both. A frequent ending to 
a stormy conference is the dark hint : *' We shall see about 
this later." 

The Chinese are firm believers in the doctrine of rewards 
and punishments. A man who has been conspicuous for his 
evil deeds will meet no shadow of sympathy when trouble of 
any sort overtakes him. He is a tiger in a pit. Such an one 
who was attacked with worm-breeding corrosive ulcers, dragged 
himself to the terrace of one of the temples of his native vil- 
lage, where he lay sometimes in a coma, and at others scream- 
ing with pain. His neighbours would revile him as they passed 
with the comment : '' It is heaven's vengeance ! " 

The Chinese character often abounds in amiable alleviations 
of conditions which would seem at first sight to make existence 
intolerable. In the breasts of the Chinese, as in ours, Hope 



INSTABILITY FROM FAMILY DISUNITY 337 

Springs eternal. His generalizations from the experience of 
others as well as his own, render him measurably certain that 
in the long-run almost nothing will go right. He expects to 
meet insincerity, suspicion, and neglect, and he is rarely dis- 
appointed. He will often be dependent upon those who would 
be glad to get rid of him, and who keep him constantly aware 
of this fact. He knows as certainly before as after the event 
that the loans which he is obliged to make will not be repaid at 
the proper time, nor in full ; that the promised assistance if 
given at all will be rendered grudgingly, and perhaps turned 
into open hostility. It is proverbial that he has in his mind 
<*two hundred next years" but he is not infrequently perfectly 
aware that no number of " next years " will ever suffice to get 
him straight with the world. Yet amid all this he generally 
maintains a serene cheerfulness which to us would be as impos- 
sible as comfortable respiration in the foul atmosphere of a 
Chinese sleeping-room. He is used to it — we are not. A man 
of this type weighted with a termagant wife, who had become 
exasperated by the unexpected remarriage of a brother of her 
husband for twenty years a widower, and who filled the house 
with a tempest in consequence, said to the writer that for the 
past three months he had not drawn *'one peaceful breath ! " 
This was not mentioned by way of complaint, but as one might 
refer in reply to an inquiry about a troublesome com on the 
toe. Under stress of this sort many Chinese exhibit a degree 
of forbearance to which it is to be feared we have no counter- 
part in the West, where individual rights have not for ages been 
merged in those of the family. Such persons are said to "eat 
a dumb man's injury," and the number of them is proverbially 
unlimited, for the class is immortal. 

No one who is intimately acquainted with their real life is 
likely to exaggerate the evils from which the Chinese suffer, 
since the strongest representation often seems to come short of 
the truth. But every one finds himself asking by what means it 
would be possible to forefend some of these evils. Since many 



338 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

of them appear to be inseparably associated with that poverty 
which is apparently the keynote of Chinese discords, one is 
tempted to imagine that if poverty were abolished, family dis- 
unity also would largely disappear. Something may be said in 
favour of this theory, but it fails in presence of the undoubted 
fact that the evils to be remedied are perhaps quite as prevalent 
among those Chinese who are fairly well off, as among the 
poor, besides being much more conspicuous and irrepressible. 

Moral discord can be cured only by radical and not by 
superficial remedies. Yet there is one prescription of an 
economic as distinguished from a moral type which were it 
tried on a large scale for a generation or two might work such 
a revolution that China would hardly know itself. If mar- 
riages could be invariably postponed until the partners had ar- 
rived at mature age, and if on occasion of the marriage of each 
son the family property were divided so that a conflict of inter- 
ests were no longer unavoidable, a whole continent of evils 
would be nipped in the bud. 

At the inquiry held in marine courts as to the reasons for the 
wreck of great steamers with all their passengers and cargo, in 
the Formosan Channel, it is often shown that the vessel was 
acted upon by a powerful but hidden current which made ruin 
inevitable. The hereditary habits of the Chinese in the 
agglomeration of large numbers of individuals under one head 
constitute a drift toward disunity and disintegration. We 
firmly believe that the strain upon the temper and the disposi- 
tion incident to the mechanical collocation of so many human 
beings in one compound -family on the Chinese plan is one 
which no society in the world could endure, because it is more 
than human nature can bear. It is certain that the resultant 
evils are inevitable, insufferable, and by any means at the com- 
mand of the Chinese incurable. 



PART III 

Regeneration of the Chinese Village 



XXVII 

WHAT CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA? 

TTOWEVER inadequte or imperfect our survey of the life of 
-*■ -^ the Chinese Village may have been, it must at least have 
shown that it has defects of a serious character. It is therefore 
a legitimate question how they are to be remedied, on the sup- 
position that they can be remedied at all. 

It is certainly conceivable that there might be many remedial 
agencies set at work with varying degrees of success ; but as a 
matter of fact, so far as we are aware, there is but one the 
friends of which have been stimulated to try on any extended 
scale. That sole agency is Christianity. It thus becomes an 
inquiry of great moment, what effect the introduction into 
China of Christianity in its best form may be rationally ex- 
pected to exert upon the springs of the national life and char- 
acter of the Chinese. What can Christianity do for the Chinese 
family ? What can it do for the Chinese boy and girl ? 

In the first place it can take better care of them. The dense 
and impenetrable ignorance which sacrifices so large a propor- 
tion of Chinese infants during the first two years of their life, 
might perhaps be counteracted in other ways, but it is probably 
safe to predict that it never would be. To the Chinese girl the 
practical introduction of Christianity will mean even more than 
to her brother. It will prevent her from being killed as soon 
as she is born, and will eventually restore her to her rightful 
place in the affections of her parents. It is never enough 
merely to point out the folly, danger, or sin of a given course 
of action. There must be moral as well as intellectual en- 
lightenment, cooperation in a new social order, the stimulus 
both of precept and example, and adequate moral sanctions. 

341 



343 yiLLACE LIFE IN CHINA 

This can be furnished by Christianity alone. History testifies 
that if Christianity begins to lose its power, the dormant forces 
of human selfishness, depravity and crime reassert themselves 
in infant murder. 

Christianity will call into existence a sympathy between par- 
ents and children hitherto unknown, and one of the greatest 
needs of the Chinese home. It will teach parents to govern 
their children, an accomplishment which in four millenniums 
they have never made an approach to acquiring. This it will 
do, not as at present by the mere iterative insistence upon the 
duty of subjection to parents, but by showing parents how first 
to govern themselves, teaching them the completion of the five 
relations by the addition of that chiefest one hitherto unknown, 
expressed in the words Our Father. It will redeem many years 
during the first decade of childhood, of what is now a mere 
animal existence, filling it with fruitfulness for a future intel- 
lectual and spiritual harvest. 

It will show Chinese parents how to train as well as how to 
govern their children — a divine art of which they have at pres- 
ent no more conception than of the chemistry of soils. It will 
put an end to the cruelty and miseries of foot-binding. To- 
ward this great reform there was never in China the smallest 
impulse, until it had long been urged by Christian forces. If 
it shall prove at length to have successfully taken root in China 
apart from Christianity, that fact would be a luminous star in 
the East showing that there are no Chinese walls which may 
not ultimately fall before the blast of Christian trumpets. 

Christianity will revolutionize the Chinese system of educa- 
tion. Such a revolution might indeed take place without ref- 
erence to Christianity. The moral forces which have made 
China what it is, are now to a large extent inert. To introduce 
new intellectual life with no corresponding moral restraints, 
might prove far more a curse than a blessing, as it has been in 
the other Oriental lands. Christian education will never make the 
mistake so often repeated of seeking for fruits where there have 




Little Old People. 




Going to a Christian School. 



lVHy4T CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA? 343 

been no roots. It starts from a fixed point and moves onward 
to a definite end. 

Christian education will teach the Chinese child his own 
tongue in a rational manner. It will abbreviate to the greatest 
possible extent "the toils of wandering through the wilderness 
of the Chinese language to arrive at the deserts of Chinese 
literature." It will awaken the child's hibernating imagination, 
enormously widen his horizon, develop and cultivate his judg- 
ment, teach him the history of mankind, and not of one branch 
only. Above all it will arouse his conscience, and in its light 
will exhibit the mutual interrelations of the past, the present, 
and the future. It will create an intellectual atmosphere in the 
home, causing the children to feel that their progress at school 
is intimately related to instruction at home, and has a personal 
interest to the parents and to the family as a whole. The value 
of such a stimulus, now totally lacking in most Chinese homes, 
is beyond calculation, and would of itself easily double the 
mental output of every family into which it entered. 

Christianity will provide for the intellectual and spiritual 
education of girls as well as boys, when once the Christian 
point of view has been attained. The typical Chinese mother 
is "an ignorant woman with babies," but she is not the 
Chinese ideal woman as the long list of educated ladies in 
many dynasties (a number too considerable to be ignored but 
too insignificant to be influential) abundantly shows. A 
Chinese girl told her foreign friend that before Christianity 
came into her life, she used to go about her work humming a 
ballad, consisting of the words : " The beautiful teacup ; the 
painted teacup; the teacup, the teacup, the beautiful, beauti- 
ful teacup." Contrast the outlook from such an intellectual 
mouse-hole with the vista of a maiden whose thoughts are ele- 
vated to the stars and the angels. By developing the neglected 
spiritual nature, Christianity will broaden and deepen the ex- 
isting rills of natural afi"ection into glorious rivers wide and 
deep, supplementing the physical and the material by the Intel- 



344 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

lectual and the divine. By cultivating a fellowship between 
mothers and daughters in all these and in other lines, it will 
make it easier for children to love their fathers and respect their 
mothers, and will fill the lives of both parents and children 
with new impulses, new motives and new ambitions. It will 
impel mothers to give their daughters much needed instruction 
in their future duties as daughters-in-law and as wives, instead 
of throwing them overboard as now, often in mere childhood, 
expecting them to swim untaught, against the current, and in 
the dark. 

It will for the first time provide and develop for the daugh- 
ters girl friendships, adapted to their long-felt but uncompre- 
hended needs. The education of Chinese women is a condi- 
tion of the renovation of the empire. No nation, no race can 
rise above the status of its mothers and its wives. How deftly 
yet how surely Christianity is beginning to plant its tiny acorns 
in the rifts of the granitic rock may be seen in the surprising 
results already attained. When the present isolated and initia- 
tory experiments shall have had time to bring forth fruit after 
their kind, it will be clearly perceived that a new and an Im- 
perial force has entered into the Chinese world. 

Christianity wherever introduced tends to a more rational 
selection of partners for its sons and daughters than has ever 
been known before. In place of the mercenary considerations 
which alone find place in the ordinary practice of the Chinese, 
it naturally and inevitably leads to the choice of Christian 
maidens for daughters-in-law, and Christian youths for sons-in- 
law. It attaches weight to character, disposition and acquire- 
ments instead of to wealth and to social position alone. A 
Christian community is the only one in China where it is pos- 
sible to learn with certainty all important facts with regard to 
those who may be proposed for matrimonial engagements, be- 
cause it is only in such a community that dependence can be 
placed upon the representations of third parties. As Christian 
communities come more and more to distinct self-conscipusness, 



pyHyiT CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA? 345 

more and more care will be exercised in making matches. 
Christians are indeed the only Chinese who can be made to 
feel that caution in this direction is a religious duty. The re- 
sult of this process continued for an extended period will pro- 
duce by "natural selection " a distinctly new type of Chinese, 
physically, intellectually, and morally the superiors of all types 
about them and therefore more fitted to survive. 

Chinese customs will not be rashly invaded, but the ultimate 
tendency will be to postpone marriage to a suitable age, to 
consider the preferences of the principal parties — so far as they 
may have any — and to make wedlock a sacred solemnity in- 
stead of merely a social necessity. 

Christianity will make no compromise with polygamy and 
concubinage, but will cut the tap-root of a upas-tree which 
now poisons Chinese society wherever its branches spread. 
Christianity will gradually revolutionize the relations between 
the young husband and his bride. Their common intellectual 
and spiritual equipment will have fitted them to become com- 
panions to one another, instead of merely commercial partners 
in a kettle of rice. The little ones will be born into a Chris- 
tian atmosphere as different from that of a non-Christian house- 
hold as the temperature of Florida from that of Labrador. 
These forces will be self-perpetuating and cumulative. 

Christianity will purify and sweeten the Chinese home, now 
always and everywhere liable to devastating hurricanes of pas- 
sion, and too often filled with evil-speaking, bitterness and 
wrath. The imperative inhibition of all manner of reviling 
would alone do more for domestic harmony than all the wise 
maxims of the sages mechanically learned and repeated could 
accomplish in a lifetime. Indeed, Christianity will take these 
semi-animate precepts of the dead past, breathe into them for 
the first time the breath of life, and then reinforce them with 
the Word of the Lord and the sanctions of His Law. 

Christianity will introduce a new and a potent factor into 
the social life of the Chinese by its energy as a prophylactic. 



346 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

Chinese society has a virtuous talent for " talking peace " when 
there is no peace, and when matters have come to such a pitch 
that a catastrophe appears inevitable. But the remedy almost 
invariably comes too late. Chinese '' peace-talking " is usually 
a mere dust-storm, unpleasantly affecting the eyes, the ears, 
the nostrils of every one exposed to it, thinly covering up the 
surrounding filth with even impartiality, while after all leaving 
the whole of it just where it was before. Christianity is an 
efficient sanitary commission which aims at removing every- 
thing that can breed pestilence. In this it will not, indeed, 
entirely succeed, but its introduction upon a large scale will as 
certainly modify Chinese society, as a strong and steady north- 
east wind will eventually dissipate a dense fog. 

As has been already remarked, perhaps there is no single 
Chinese custom which is the source of a larger variety of mis- 
chief than that of keeping large family organizations in a con- 
dition of dependence upon one another and upon a common 
property, instead of dividing it up among the several sons, 
leaving each free to work out his own destiny. The inevitable 
result is chronic discontent, jealousy, suspicion, and on the 
part of many indolence. This is as clearly perceived by the 
Chinese as by us, indeed far more so, but hereditary cowardice, 
dread of criticism, and especially of ridicule prevent myriads 
of families from effecting the desired and necessary division, 
lest they be laughed at. Christianity is itself a defiance of all 
antecedent public opinion, and an appeal to a new and an 
illuminated understanding. Christian communities will prob- 
ably more and more tend to follow the Scriptural plan of making 
one man and one woman a new family, and by this process 
alone will save themselves an infinity of misery. This will be 
done, not by the superimposition of any force from without, 
but by the exercise of a common sense which has been at once 
enlightened to see and emboldened to act, attacking with cour- 
age whatever needs amendment. 

Christianity will introduce an entirely new element into the 



IVHAT CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA? 347 

friendships of the Chinese, now too often based upon the selfish 
considerations suggested by the maxim of Confucius, " Have 
no friends not equal to yourself." Friendship is reckoned 
among the Five Relations and occupies a prominent place in 
Chinese thought as in Chinese life. But after all is conceded 
in regard to it which can be reasonably claimed, it remains 
true that its benefits are constantly alloyed by mutual insin- 
cerity and suspicion, and not infrequently by jealousy. This 
the Chinese themselves are ready to admit in the frankest man- 
ner ; but as they have no experience of friendships which arise 
from conditions above and beyond those of the material issues 
of everyday life, no remedy for existing evils is ever thought 
of as possible. Those Chinese who have become intimate with 
congenial Christian friends, recognize at once that there is a 
flavour and a zest in such friendships not only unknown before, 
but absolutely beyond the range of imagination. Amid the 
poverty, barrenness, and discouragements of most Chinese lives, 
the gift of a wholly new relationship of the sort which Chris- 
tianity imparts is to be reckoned among the choicest treasures 
of existence. 

The theory of the Chinese social organization is admirable 
and beautiful, but the principles which underlie it are utterly 
inert. When Christianity shows the Chinese for the first time 
what these traditional principles really mean, the theories will 
begin to take shape as possibilities, even as the bones of Ezekiel's 
vision took on flesh. Then it will more clearly appear how 
great an advantage the Chinese race has enjoyed in its lofty 
moral code. The Classical but not altogether intelligible aph- 
orism that "within the Four Seas all are Brethren," requires 
the Christian teaching regarding a common Father to make it 
vital to Chinese consciousness. When once the Chinese have 
grasped the practical truth of the Fatherhood of God and the 
Brotherhood of Man, the starlight of the past will have been 
merged into the sunlight of the future. 

In China the family is a microcosm of the empire. To amplify 



348 yiLLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

illustrations of the modus operandi of Christianity on a wider 
scale beyond the family is superfluous. What Christianity can 
do in one place it can do in another. Though soils and climate 
vary, the seed is the same. For the changes which Christianity 
alone can affect, China is waiting to-day as never before. Her 
most intelligent thinkers — too few alas, in number — recognize 
that something must be done for her. They hope that by the 
adoption of certain formulae, educational, industrial, econom- 
ical, China may be saved, not perceiving that her vital lack is 
neither Capital nor Machinery, but Men. The New China is 
to be penetrated by numerous railways, and by steam naviga- 
tion of its inland waters. Vast industrial enterprises such as 
mines and factories will call for great supplies of labour from 
the most numerous people on earth. In the management of 
these immense and varied interests, in the conduct of the new 
education which China cannot dispense with, in the adminis- 
tration of all branches of its government China must have men 
of conscience, and of sterling character. It has hitherto been 
impossible to secure any such men except by importation ; how 
is it to be otherwise in the future ? Only by the cultivation of 
conscience and character as they have been cultivated in lands 
to which China is at last driven to turn for help. Like all 
processes of development this will be a slow one, but it will 
be sure; and aside from it there is literally no hope for 
China. 

With its other great benefits Christianity will confer upon 
China real patriotism, at present existing almost entirely in the 
blind impulses of the bias of national feeling. During the 
political crises of the past few years, the great mass of the 
Chinese people have been profoundly indifferent to the fate of 
their country, and in this respect there has been little distinc- 
tion between scholars, farmers, merchants, and coolies. Each 
individual has been chiefly occupied in considering how in any 
cataclysm impending he could make with fate the best bargain 
for himself. If there are any exceptions to this generalization, 



«///^r CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA? 349 

SO far as we know they consist exclusively of those who have 
been acted upon by forces from outside of China. 

The Christian converts are now sufficiently numerous to show 
in what direction their influence will be felt in the not distant 
future. They are keenly alive to what is taking place in the 
empire, and they may almost be said to be the only Chinese in 
it who are so. China will never have patriotic subjects until 
she has Christian subjects, and in China as elsewhere Chris- 
tianity and patriotism will be found to advance hand in hand. 

It must be distinctly understood that all which we have said 
of the potency of Christianity as of " un wasting and secular 
force " is based upon the conception of it as a moral power 
"producing certain definite though small results during a cer- 
tain period of time, and of a nature adapted to produce indefi- 
nite similar results in unlimited time." It is therefore emi- 
nently reasonable to point out that under no circumstances can 
it produce its full effects in less than three complete generations. 
By that time Christian heredity will have begun to operate. A 
clear perception of this fundamental truth would do much to 
abate the impatience alike of its promotors and its critics. 

There are some Occidentals with large knowledge of China 
who seriously raise the question, What good can Christianity 
do in China? Of what use is it for a Chinese to be "con- 
verted " ? 

To infer from any phenomena of Chinese life that the Chin- 
ese do not need a radical readjustment of their relations is to 
judge most superficially. Patient and long continued exami- 
ation of these phenomena in their endless variety and complex- 
ity, shows clearly the imperative necessity of a force from with- 
out to accomplish what all the forces from within operating un- 
impeded for ages have been powerless to effect. To those who 
know the Chinese people as they are the question what good 
Christianity can do them, answers itself. Of the necessity of 
a new power the Chinese themselves are acutely conscious. 
If what has been already set forth in proof of the proposition 



350 VILLAGE UFE IN CHINA 

that there is imperative need of renovation is regarded as ir- 
relevant or inadequate, then further debate is indeed vain. 

But it may be objected that the views here taken of the ef- 
ficacy of the remedy are exaggerated. Those Chinese who 
have had the best opportunity to become acquainted with the 
nature of the benefits which Christianity affords, perceive its 
adaptation to China's need. All that is required to render the 
proof to every reasonable inquirer as complete as evidence can 
be made, is a searching and scientific analysis of known facts. 
The case for Christianity in China may rest solely upon the 
transformations which it actually eff'ects. These are not upon 
the surface, but they are as real and as capable of being accu- 
rately noted as the amount of the rain -fall, or the precession 
of the equinoxes. They consist of revolutionized lives due to 
the implanting of new motives and the influence of a new life. 
They occur in many difl'erent strata of society, and with the 
ever widening base-line of Christian work they are found in 
ever increasing numbers. At first few and isolated, they are 
now counted by scores of thousands. Among them are many im- 
mature and blighted developments, as is true of all transitional 
phenomena everywhere ; but the indisputable residuum of gen- 
uine transformations furnish a great cloud of witnesses in the 
presence of which it is unnecessary to inquire further what 
good Christianity will do the Chinese, and of what use it will 
be to a Chinese to be converted. It will make him a new 
man, with a new insight and a new outlook. It will give back 
his lost soul and spirit, and pour into all the avenues of his na- 
ture new life. There is not a human relation in which it will 
not be felt immediately, profoundly, and beneficently. 

It will sanctify childhood, ennoble motherhood, dignify man- 
hood, and purify every social condition. That Christianity 
has by no means yet done for Western lands all that we expect 
it to do for China, we are perfectly aware. Christianity has 
succeeded wherever it has been practiced. It is no valid ob- 
jection to it that it has been misunderstood, misrepresented 



IVH.4T CAN CHRISTIANITY DO FOR CHINA? 351 

and ignored. Whatever defects are to be found in any Chris- 
tian land, not the most unintelligent or the most sceptical 
would be willing to be transplanted into the non-Christian con- 
ditions out of which every Christian land has been evolved. 
It must be remembered also that although the lessons of 
Christianity are old, the pupils are ever new. Each genera- 
tion has to learn its lesson afresh. It has well been said that 
heredity, so mighty a force for evil, has not yet been captured 
for Christianity on any large scale, and its reserves turned to 
the furtherance of Christian forces. When it has been so taken 
captive, progress upward will be greatly accelerated. 

How long it will take Christianity to renovate an empire like 
China, is a question which may be answered in different ways, 
but only hypothetically. First by historical analogies. It took 
eight centuries to develop the Roman Empire. It has taken 
about as long to mold Saxon, Danish, and Norman elements 
into the England of to-day. Each of these race-stocks were at 
the start barbarous. The Chinese are an ancient and a highly 
civilized race, a fact which may be in some respects a help in 
their Christianization, and in others a hindrance. Taking into 
account the intensity of Chinese prejudices, the strength of 
Chinese conservatism, the vast numbers involved and their 
compact, patriarchal life, we should expect the first steps to be 
very slow. Reckoning from the general opening of China in 
i860, fifty years would suffice for a good beginning, three hun- 
dred for a general diffusion of Christianity, and five hundred 
for its obvious superseding of all rival faiths. Reasoning from 
history and psychology this is perhaps a probable rate of prog- 
ress, and its realization would be a great result. 

There is however a different sort of forecast which appeals 
to many minds more powerfully. It must be remembered that 
spiritual development, like that of races, is slow in its inception, 
but once begun it takes little account of the rules of ratio 
and proportion. The intellectual, moral, and spiritual forces 
of Christianity are now far greater than they have ever been 



352 VILLAGE LIFE IN CHINA 

before. The world is visibly contracted. The life of the man 
of to-day is that of *'a condensed Methusaleh." The nine- 
teenth century outranks the previous millennium. Great ma- 
terial forces are but types and handmaids of great spiritual 
forces which may be reinforced and multiplied — as they have 
been at certain periods of the past — to a degree at present little 
anticipated. 

Putting aside all consideration of the time element, we con- 
sider it certain that what Christianity has done for us it will 
do for the Chinese, and under conditions far more favourable, 
by reason of the high vitalization of the age in which we live, 
its unfettered communication, and the rapid transfusion of in- 
tellectual and spiritual forces. The forecast of results like 
these is no longer the iridescent dream which it once appeared. 
It is sober history rationally interpreted. When Christianity 
shall have had opportunity to work out its full effects, it will be 
perceived to have been pervasive leaven in the individual heart, 
in society, and in the world. Whether it is to take five cen- 
turies or fifty to produce these results appears to be a matter of 
altogether minor importance in view of certain success in the 
end. 

There are in China many questions and many problems, but 
the one great question, the sole all-comprehending problem is 
how to set Christianity at work upon them, which alone in time 
can and will solve them all. 



END 



Index 



Abacus, Chinese, 105. 

Abdomen, the seat of intellect, 85. 

Actors debarred from literary de- 
grees, 54; different grades, 57; 
salaries, 58. 

Adobe houses, construction, 23. 

Adoption, conditions, 251, 252. 

Aged, occasional hard lot of the, 
326. 

" Analects " quoted, 93. 

Architecture of China described, 25. 

Arnold of Rugby vs. Confucius, 72. 

"Backing" the lesson, 81; illus- 
tration, 81, 82. 

Betrothal, evils of early, 267. 

Bookkeeping, difficult in Chinese, 
52. 

" Book of Surnames," 84. 

Books copied by poor scholars, 100. 

Borrowing, its universal necessity, 
204, 205. 

" Bowl associations," 188. 

Boys and men, village : infancy of, 
237, 238 ; " milknames " given 
them, 238 ; why called by girls' 
names, 238 ; names a clue to re- 
lationship, 239; "style," 239, 
240 ; secret titles used on letters, 
240; titles for men, 240; boys 
carried about for years, 241 ; 
Chinese fathers not sympathetic 
with childhood, 242, 243 ; boys' 
amusements and toys, 242-245 ; 
do not rob birds' nests, 244; 
work of boys, 245-247 ; their 
wages, 247 ; outings, 247 ; " don- 
ning the cap" on arriving at 



majority, 247, 248 ; getting mar- 
ried, 248-250 ; adoption of sons, 
251, 252; adopting a daughter's 
husband, 252; "reverting to 
original names," 253, 254; two 
branches of a family represented 
by one man, 254; treatment in 
serious illness, 255, 256; subor- 
dination of men to the elder re- 
lationships, 256 ; summary of vil- 
lage boy's limitations, 256, 257. 

Bricks, colour and manufacture of, 
22; adobe, 23. 

Bridal chair, 269 ; its dismantling, 
271. 

Bully, the village : peculiar to 
China, 21 r ; Chinese traits favour- 
ing his existence, 211; names, 
211, 216; differentiated from four 
cognate classes of society, 211, 
212; dual classification of vil- 
lagers, 212; three varieties of 
bully, 212-225 ; dress of bullies, 
213; how one becomes a "vil- 
lage king," 214; gymnastic prep- 
aration, 215 ; poverty as a quali- 
fication, 216; bullies as incendi- 
aries, 217 ; as crop injurers, 217, 
218; feeders to the y amens, 218; 
devices used against the rich, 
218, 219 ; the literary bully, 219 ; 
the female bully, 219; organiza- 
tion of a bully's followers, 220, 
221; attacks on yamens, 222; 
worsted, 222; power when influ- 
ential, 223; an illustration of 
such a bully, 223-225. 

Candidates for examination, 112. 
Carts, 39 ; how drawn, 39. 



353 



354 



INDEX 



Cash, one way of securing rare 
coins, 52. 

Cash payments rare, 206. 

Cave dwellings, 22. 

Chang Kung, 27. 

Ch6n-tien, or market towns, 147. 

Christianity, what can it do for 
China? it can care for children 
physically, 341, 342; it creates 
sympathy between parents and 
children, 342; it teaches child- 
training, 342; it will revolution- 
ize education, 342, 343; will 
educate girls as well as boys, 
343 > will foster girl friendships, 
344 ; will lead to Christian choice 
of partners in marriage, 344, 
345 ; will postpone marriage to 
a suitable age, 345 ; will oppose 
polygamy and concubinage, 345 ; 
will sweeten and purify home 
life, 345 ; will be a true peace- 
maker, 346 ; will make man and 
wife the unit of society, 346; 
will change ideals of friendship, 
347 ; will implant Christian idea 
of brotherhood, 347 ; will im- 
prove the government, 348; will 
implant patriotism, 348, 349 ; the 
time required for this process, 
349. 35 1» 352; this prophecy 
based on past accomplishment, 
350; Christianity's ultimate tri- 
umph, 352. 

Chu Hsi's Commentary, 87. 

Cities irregular in form and reason 
therefor, 20 ; monotonous appear- 
ance, 25. 

Civilization unable to vitally change 
China, 348. 

" Classics," their excellencies, 95 ; 
their defects, 95, 96. 

Classification unheard of in Chinese 
schools, 90. 

Colquhoun's volume and its impor- 
tance, 16, note. 

Concubinage, 297, 300-302. 



Confucius and his son, 70, 7 1 ; his 
theory of teaching, 71, 72; hon- 
oured in schools, 76. 

Constables, local, 228. 

Conversation, topics of, 315. 

Cotton-gathering and manufacture, 
276. 

Cotton-gleaning, 166, 167. 

Courtyard, arrangement of build- 
ings in a, 25 ; animals in, 28. 

Crop-watching societies, why nec- 
essary, 1 6 1- 1 64; description of 
watchers' lodges, 162; fate of 
captured thieves, 163; announc- 
ing the existence of a society, 
164 ; how expense is borne, 164 ; 
agreement entered into, 165 ; 
trial and punishment of thieves, 
165, 166; fines, 168; eftect on 
health, 168. 

Daughters, infancy of, 237. 

Dead, marrying to the, 298, 299. 

Degrees, sale of, 121 ; three meth- 
ods of falsely securing, 122-126; 
motives leading men to compete 
for degrees, 132, 133. 

Democracy in China apparent, not 
real, 226. 

Dictionary, standard Chinese, 97. 

Digging through walls by thieves, 
28. 

Display, Chinese love of, 191. 

" Distant reserve," a Chinese factor 
in education, 72, 73. 

District officials' occasional objec- 
tions to theatres, 59. 

Divorce, seven grades of, 288. 

Dogs destroyers of crops, 162. 

Door-locking and thieves, 28. 

Dunning must be repeated, 206, 
207. 

Educational Edicts of 1898, 134, 
135 ; results, 135. 



INDEX 



355 



Education, Chinese theories of, 71- 
73; its object, 91, 106. 

Education of girls unnecessary, 264. 

Emigration made necessary in 
Yung Lo's time, 20. 

Essay brokers, 124, 125. 

Essay, its place in Chinese educa- 
tion, no. III. 

Examinations announced, 111,112; 
District Examinations, first day, 
112, 113; second to fourth days, 
113; fees, 113, 114; second ex- 
amination on fifth or sixth day, 
114; third examination, 114; 
fourth examination, 114; fifth 
examination, 115; number of 
successful candidates small, I15 ; 
Prefectural Examittations, their 
character, 116; number of candi- 
dates, 116; severity of hall reg- 
ulations, 117, 118; fees of suc- 
cessful candidates, 119; "joyful 
announcements," 119, 120 ; hon- 
ours paid successful candidates, 
1 20; diplomas lacking, 120, 121 ; 
literary buttons and their forfeit- 
ure, 121 ; result of negligence of 
examiners, 127, 128; examina- 
tions required after first degree 
is obtained, 129. 

Fairs, shopkeepers preparing for, 
50; gambling at temple fairs, 
144; differentiated from markets, 
149 ; numbers attending, 149 ; 
duration, 150; essentials to their 
success, 150; opened by a play, 
150. 

" Falconing " with a woman, 296. 

Family disunity : why marriage is 
an element in this, 324-326 ; dis- 
unity due to daughters, 326 ; due 
to married sons living at home, 
326, 327 ; due to distribution of 
property, 327-329 ; due to 
" empty grain-tax land," 329, 330 ; 
due to poisoning propensities, 
330, 331 ; due to lack of mutual 
confidence, 332; due to lack of 



sympathy and pity, 333 ; due to 
"face," 335, 336; due to trans- 
migration ideas, 336 ; due to do- 
mestic brawls, 337 ; partial 
remedy for this disunity, 338. 

Family, unstable equilibrium of the 
Chinese: unit of social hfe, 317 ; 
equilibrium affected by famine, 
317; by inundation, 317, 318; 
by rebellions, 318; by the labour 
market, 318; by lawsuits, 319; 
by debts, 320; by sickness, 320, 
321 ; by gambling and opium 
among the wealthy, 32 1 ; by so- 
cial immorality, 322. 

Farmers in China comparatively in- 
dependent, 146. 

Farms in various plots, 163. 

«' Feast " in its technical sense, 183. 

Ferries, why essential in the North, 
39 ; loading animals and carts on 
the boats, 40, 41 ; unloading, 41 ; 
why ferry reforms are deemed 
impossible, 42. 

Ferule and its uses, 78, 89. 

Financiering, seven deadly sins of 
Chinese, 204-208. 

" Five Classics," 85. 

Five degrees of relationship, 193. 

Foot-binding, 261. 

Foreigners attacked in theatres, 65, 
66. 

" Four Books," 85. 

Freedom of assembling, 228. 

Funerals : of suicides, 186 ; why pil- 
laging occurs at rich men's funer- 
als, 186; fate of unpopular sur- 
vivors, 187 ; announcing funeral 
expense deficits, 187, 188; coop- 
erative bearers, 188; catafalque 
ownership, 188; funeral aid so- 
cieties, 189, 190; two factors de- 
termining elaborateness of, 192; 
rites of the •* seven sevens," 192 ; 
shabby paraphernalia, 193; 
mourning costume, 193; block- 



356 



INDEX 



ing the procession, 194; funeral 
director's duties, 194; at the 
grave, 195. 

Gathering fuel and manure, 246, 
247. 

Girls and women in China: girls' 
inferiority to boys, 258; unwel- 
come at birth, 258; reasons for 
female infanticide, 258, 259; sale 
of daughters, 259, 260 ; "rear- 
ing marriage," 260 ; foot- binding, 
261; girls' employments, 261; 
confined at home, 262; married 
daughter's return home and its 
consequences, 263, 264; daugh- 
ters rarely taught to read, 264; 
anxiety about girl's betrothal, 
265 ; restrictions after betrothal, 
265, 266; evils of early engage- 
ments, 267 ; engagement cards, 
268 ; arrival of bridal chair, 268, 
269 ; " lucky days *' sometimes 
unlucky, 269 ; delivery of bride 
essential feature of wedding, 269 ; 
dowry, 270, 27 1 ; birth of first 
baby, 272; children must be 
born at their father's house, 272, 
273; faulty care of infants and 
children, 274, 275 ; mortality of 
infants, 274, 275 ; early senility 
of women, 275 ; incessant labours 
of women, 275, 276; daughter- 
and mother-in-law, 276, 277 ; 
abuse of daughters-in-law and 
consequent retaliation, 277-279; 
why lawsuits in such cases are 
rare, 279, 280; result of bride's 
suicide, 281 ; a typical case, 282- 
286 ; number of women suicides, 
286 ; suicide a virtue, extract 
from the Shih Fao, 287, 288; 
grounds of divorce, 288, 290; 
why women must be married, 
289 ; prudishness in speaking 
about marriage, 290, 291 ; sons 
should be married before parents' 
death, 291, 292; marriage to ep- 
ileptics, idiots, etc., 292; kidnap- 
ping of wives, 292-295 ; wives 



sold by husbands, 295, 296; 
" cheaper than an animal," 297 ; 
concubines, 297, 300-302; mar- 
rying the dead, 298, 299; men 
and women do not eat together, 
302; husband and wife do not 
converse, 303 ; wife's twofold de- 
fence, 303, 304 ; hen-pecked hus- 
bands, 304, 305 ; classical teach- 
ing concerning women, 305, 306; 
Confucianism's seven sins against 
woman : lack of education, 306, 
307 ; sale of wives and daugh- 
ters, 307, 308; early and too 
universal marriage, 308; female 
infanticide, 308, 309 ; secondary 
wives, 309 ; suicide of wives and 
daughters, 309; overpopulation, 
309, 310- 

God of Literature, 140. 

God of War, 137. 

Government high schools or col- 
leges, 131. 

Government, weaknesses of Chi- 
nese, 220; its strength, 221. 

Grapevines unlucky in yards, 24. 

Greek drama in some respects like 
the Chinese, 56. 

Hare hunting in Denmark, 175. 

" Harrying to death," 185. 

Headmen, village : names, 227 ; 
qualifications, 227; duties and 
functions, 227-229 ; *< ins " and 
"outs," 229, 230; why incompe- 
tents are not removed, 230 ; re- 
sult of complaints illustrated, 
230-232; facility with which 
troubles arise in village life, 233, 
234. 

High schools, how different from 
common schools, no; Govern- 
ment high schools, 131. 

History, Chinese, 99. 

History taught through plays, 66. 

Hospitable man described, 180. 

Houses of stone, 22 ; of bricks, 22 ; 



INDEX 



357 



of adobe, 23; their roof, 23; 
rooms, 25 ; doors, 26 ; windows, 
26 ; k'angs, 26, 27 ; floors, 28 ; 
furnishings, 28. 

Hsien District, conditions in, 317, 
318, note. 

Hsiu-ts'ai obhged to attend exam- 
inations after graduation, 129. 

Ice-sleds, 245. 

Illness announced and the results, 
255. 

Imperial University in Peking, 135. 

Incendiary fires, 217. 

Infanticide of girls, 258, 259; op- 
position to, 259. 

Infant mortality, 274. 

Intellectuality without stimulus ex- 
cept in school, 91 ; intellectual 
obtuseness, 10 1. 

Interest per month, 152, 210. 

K'ANG, construction and use of, 26, 

27. 
Kidnapping wives, 292-295. 
Kinship claimed for inheritance, 

253. 
Kitchen god, 27; at New Year, 

199- 
Kung-shfing's rank, 129, 130. 

Lending a necessity, 205, 206. 

Letters, ambiguity of address, 240. 

Letter-writing, loi, 102. 

Life in villages, monotony and vacu- 
ity of : villages a fixture, 3 1 2 ; their 
intellectual life in grooves, 313; 
illiteracy a source of vacuity, 315 ; 
topics of conversation, 315; in- 
difference to happenings outside 
the village, 315, 316; travelled 
villagers speedily stagnate, 316. 

Li Hung Chang honouring snakes, 
169. 

Literary chancellor's duties, 1 1 1. 

Live-stock fairs, 148. 



Loan Societies, object, 152; sim- 
plest form, 152, 153; feasts, 153; 
societies charging interest, 154; 
method of securing loans, 154, 
155 ; tables illustrating their 
working, 155, 156; insuring pay- 
ment, 157; risks involved, 157, 
158; Hong Kong lawsuit re 
such societies, 158-160. 

Local deity, T'u-ti, 137, 138. 

Lord Clive a Chinese bully in boy- 
hood, 218. 

" Lord-of-bitterness," i. e., elder 
brother, 283. 

Markets, why necessary, 146; 
harmful to morals, 147 ; " of- 
ficial" markets, 147; number 
attending, 147 ; use made of 
market taxes, 148; market-day 
nomenclature, 148, 149 ; " mar- 
ket " and " fair " differentiated, 
149; taxes levied, 149, 150; co- 
operation most helpful in one re- 
spect, 151. 

Mencius' view of teachers, 70. 

Men (See Boys and men). 

Mill, James, and his method of 

teaching, 72. 
Mind, characteristics of the Chinese, 

102 ; like a high bicycle, 103. 
Ming Huang, the god of actors, 54. 
Mohammedans exempt from temple 

assessment, 137. 
Mothers-in-law, 276, 277. 

Names of villages derived from 
surnames, 30 ; from temples, 30 ; 
confusion in names, 31, 32; 
names derived from distances, 
31 ; villages nicknamed, 33; sin- 
gular names, 33, 34. 

Naming children, 238; a clue to 
relationship, 239. 

New Year in China: dumplings, 
196, 197 ; family reunions, 197, 
198 J new clothes essential to, 



358 



INDEX 



198, 199; New Year religious 
rites, 199, 2CK); its social cere- 
monies, 200, 201 ; universal leis- 
ure of the time, 201, 202; gam- 
bling, 202, 203 ; debt-paying, 
203, 204 ; lantern search for 
debtors, 208. 
New Year Societies: fees, 209; 
use of funds, 209 ; consequences 
if not paid, 210; gamblers' use 
of its funds, 210. 

" Odes, Book of," quoted, 237. 

Parents, care of in Chinese the- 
ory, 328, 329. 

Partial payments in China, 207, 
308. 

Peking Gazette, 99. 

Pig-styes, 28, 29. 

Pits near villages, 24. 

Poisoning in China, 330, 331. 

Population of China : ignorance of 
the Chinese people concerning 
it, 17; official ignorance on the 
subject, 17; attempts of foreign- 
ers to ascertain density in certain 
districts, 18, 19; too great, 308, 
309- 

Poverty characteristic of China, 310, 
311 ; its alleviation, 311. 

Property, distribution of, 327-329. 

Proverbs : concerning teachers, 73, 
74; school discipline in last 
month, 76 ; necessity of continu- 
ous study, 91 ; reading required, 
if one would know history, 99 ; 
funeral feasts, 192; girls w, boys, 
258 ; obstreperous women, 305 ; 
daughters useless to mother's 
family, 326. 

Punctuality a lost art in China, 151. 

Rain-making : gods connected 
therewith, 169, 170; iron tablets 
used, 170; why these methods 
seem efficacious, 171; detrimen- 



tal influences, 171 ; punishment 
of unsuccessful rain-gods, 172. 

Reforms in China, how to be se- 
cured, 43; difficult in educa- 
tional matters, 107. 

Relationships, assumed, 240. 

Religious societies, four character- 
istics of, 141 ; two varieties of 
"Mountain Societies," 142, 143; 
program on reaching the moun- 
tain, 144, 145 ; the secret sects, 
145- 

Roads in villages used as shops, 
35 ; " low-ways," 35 ; why 
crooked, 35 ; flanked by ditches, 
36 ; in rainy season often rivers, 

36 J method of making new ones, 

37 ; road-building and la grippe, 
38. 

Scholars "not utensils," 93; 
economically they are useless, 
94; an exception, 94; begging 
of foreigners, 94, 95 ; without 
adequate literary apparatus, 96, 
97 ; their ignorance of history, 
98, 100; of geography, loi ; their 
conservatism, 103 ; lack of liter- 
ary judgment, 104; ignorance of 
arithmetic, 105 ; strolling schol- 
ars, 107-109; functions at funer- 
als, 133; in lawsuits, 133; sub- 
jectivity of, 313 ; gullibility, 314; 
riots due to their credulity, 314, 

315- 

Schoolboy beginning his studies, 
80; honoured in the family, 91, 
92; a spoiled child, 92; effects 
of study, 92, 93. 

Schoolhouses, 75 ; their furniture, 
75. 76. 

Schools in villages, why important, 
70; prevalence of schools, 73; 
abundance of teachers, 73 ; sal- 
aries, 74; school lists, 74; ar- 
rangements concerning tuition, 
75 ; schoolhouses, 75 ; furniture, 
75, 76; duration of school year, 
76; vacations, 76, 90; honour 



INDEX 



359 



shown to Confucius, 76; school 
hours and intermissions, 77; 
heating schoolrooms, 77 ; return- 
ing from school, 77 ; severity of 
discipline, 79, 80; shouting in 
study, 80; "backing," 81, 82; 
books studied, 82-85 ; " explain- 
ing," 85,86; writing exercises, 
87 ; studies interrupted by teach- 
er's guests and his examinations, 
88, 89; playing in the school, 
89; irregular attendance of pu- 
pils, 89, 90; lack of classifica- 
tion, 90 ; no genuine intellectual 
work done, 90 ; two valuable les- 
sons learned at school, 93; do 
not teach arithmetic, 104, 105 ; 
their strength and weakness, 106, 
107. 

Screens before gates, their use, 21. 

Secret sects, 145. 

Seers or " bright-eyes," 283, 284. 

Shan-tung productions, 161, 162. 

Shops in villages, goods sold, 49, 
50; headquarters from which to 
radiate to fairs, 50 ; hard lot of 
clerks, 51, 52; case of meat seller, 
51, 52; cheating methods, 53. 

Sorghum, i6i; stripping off lower 
leaves, 166. 

Strolling scholars, 107, 109. 

" Style " of individuals, 239, 240. 

Suicide, punishment for inciting to, 

322, 323- 
Superintendent of Instruction, 130, 

131- 
"Surety" for literary candidates, 

115, 116. 
" Surnames, Book of," 84. 
Surnames, the four common ones, 

31- 

T«Ai Shan's historical importance, 
141; its pilgrimages, 141, 142; 
" Mountain Societies," 142. 

Taxes on " empty grain-tax land," 
329. 



Teacher's hard lot as pictured in a 
play, 67, 68; in proverbs, 73; 
in experience, 74; do not teach 
in their own towns, 74, 75 ; their 
manner of life, 75 ; honourable 
position, 76, 78 ; unlimited power, 
78; relation to pupils, 78; sub- 
stitute teachers, 89; Western 
criticism of, 102. 

Temples to be used as school- 
houses, 135 ; how village temples 
came to be built, 136; reasons 
for their absence in some villages, 
137 > two gods most commonly 
honoured with temples, 137, 138; 
uses made of building fund sur- 
plus, 138; resorts of thieves and 
beggars, 139; temple expenses, 
139 ; as receptacles of coffins and 
funeral paraphernalia, 139; dif- 
ferent deities in same temple, 
140; temple tax at fairs, 149; 
lawsuits over, 232. 

Theatre, its origin in China, 54; 
little understood by foreigners, 
55 ; the stage and its equipment, 
55, 56; the theatre an invest- 
ment, 56, 57; costumes, 57; 
classes of players, 58; amateurs, 
58; child apprentices, 58, 59; 
plays a public benefit, 60, 65 ; 
occasions for giving a play, 60, 
61 ; cost of presenting it, 61 ; the 
"program bearer," 62; trans- 
porting stage properties, 62; 
preparations for a theatre, 62; 
used as a device for attracting 
customers for fairs, 62; impres- 
sion made by a play, 63 ; plays 
as a social factor, 63, 64 ; a drain 
upon hosts, 64; subjects of plays, 
66 ; synopsis of one, 66-68 ; the 
theatre an index of the Chinese 
theory of life, 68, 69. 

Thieves' action at theatres, 65 ; use 
temples as resorts, 139. 

" Thousand Character Classic," 84. 
Title deeds often lost, 27, 



36o 



INDEX 



Torture as a means of raising tem- 
ple funds, 136. 

"Trimetrical Classic" quoted, 78; 
origin, 82; epitomized, 82-84; 
its allusions often not understood, 
100. 

Village hunt, why possible in pop- 
ulous China, 174; the bald an- 
nunciator of the hare-hunt, 175, 
176; the hunt described, 176; 
resulting quarrels, 176-178. 

Villages, number of in India, 15; 
the residence of most Chinese, 
15 ; irregularly laid out, 21 ; how 
first settled, 21 ; streets and alleys, 
21 ; overcrowding, 21 ; village 
walls and their use, 29; nearness 
of one to another, 146, 147; each 
village a principality, 226. 

" Vinegar sipping," 300. 

Wages of farm labourers, 247 ; of 

boys, 247. 
"Washington and the cherry tree in 

Chinese, 333-335. 
Weddings: a "joyful event," 179; 

wedding contributions, 179; 

bride's arrival the essence of the 

wedding, 180; exposition of the 



"share" principle, 180; account- 
keeping at weddings, 18 1 ; duties 
of the wedding committee, 182; 
city and village caterers, 182, 
183; three "wedding commit- 
tees," 183; "borrowing" pro- 
visions, 184; opium smoking 
stewards, 184; poor relatives at 
weddings, 185; "drawing 
friends," 191 ; pranks at, 251. 

Week, unique survival of the, 192. 

Wells, manner of digging, 44, 45 ; 
driven wells, 45; occasions of 
feuds, 45 ; unpopular people for- 
bidden to use, 45 ; Western ideas 
needed for Chinese well-diggers, 
46 ; how a force pump was re- 
fused by a village, 46-48. 

Western Learning Edict, 134, 135. 

Wife of Tao-t'ai envying a dog, 
262, note. 

Woman (See Girls and women). 

Women have no name, 241 ; terms 
used, 241. 

Writing Chinese very difficult, 87, 
88. 



Yellow River, " China's Sorrow," 
172, 173- 



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Chinese Characteristics. 

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[MISSIONS, AMERICA. 



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LEuL'09 



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and. i2mo, cloth, 7^c. 

Kin-da-Shon's Wife, 

; An Alaskan Story. By Mrs. Eugene S. Willard. Illus- 
trated. Third edition. 8 vo, cloth, $1.50. 
" From beginning to end the book holds the attention. Mri, 

Willard has shown herself peculiarly well qualified to write such 

a. book." — Public Opinion, 

David Brainerd, 

The Apostle to the North American Indians. By Jesse 
Page. Missionary Biography Series. Illustrated. Twtlfih 
thousand. i2mo, cloth, 75c. 

South America, the Neglected Continent 

By Lucy E. Guinness and E. C. Millard. With a Map 
in colors and many other Illustrations. Small 4to, paper, 
50c.; doth, 75c. 



